“Then, why waste more time talking about it?” Aaron managed to flatten his voice, about enough to sound bored. But I knew better. “I’m excited to see what comes next,” he surprised me by saying. Then, his fingers squeezed mine. “Lina was telling me that Gabi saved the best for last. Right, baby?”
He leaned and brushed his lips over my shoulder. Very softly. Impossibly lightly. But it made my body come alive.
“Right,” I breathed out. Urging the shock out of my expression.
God, I could still feel the imprint of his lips on my shoulder. The touch somehow spreading out across my skin.
“Oh, and what’s that?” Daniel asked. Or at least, I guessed he had because my mind was somewhere else.
Aaron kissed me. On my shoulder.
The temperature of my whole body had probably risen a couple—or ten—degrees.
It’s good. This is what couples do. They kiss each other. On multiple body parts. Like shoulders.
“The soccer match. We’ll be starting in a few minutes, I think,” I heard Aaron explain. “Lina has promised me to show me all her moves. I won’t lie; I’m equal parts intrigued and terrified.”
Trying to look the part, I leaned my head on Aaron’s chest. And I almost slipped to the floor when I felt him brush another kiss on my hair.
“Yeah.” I said, my breath getting stuck somewhere in my throat. “Ruthless Lina is about to make an appearance.”
Aaron chuckled, and I felt his chest vibrating under my temple. The hand that wasn’t holding mine came to rest on my hip, sending electrical shocks through all nerve endings in my body.
Breathe, Lina. He’s supposed to act like this.
I forced myself to remain still when, in reality, I wanted to do everything else but that. Like forgetting about Daniel and asking Aaron what in the world he was doing. Why had he kissed my shoulder? Or the top of my head? Could he please do that again just so I could check if my reaction had been a one-time occurrence or if that was the way my body reacted to his touch?
Daniel’s mouth opened and closed, as he was probably feeling uncomfortable at our display of affection.
Of fake affection, I reminded myself.
My ex and former professor looked up, someplace where Aaron’s head towered over mine. Something flashed across his face, too quickly for me to grasp its meaning. Then, he nodded and directed a small smile at me.
Not really understanding what had just gone down before the two men, I finally allowed myself to look up at Aaron.
And … nothing. Just one of his blank expressions in place.
Someone called Daniel’s name in the distance. My head fell just in time to watch my ex walk away, all the way to where Gonzalo was standing. He took his place beside his brother.
Still feeling the weird tension in the air, I drew a shallow breath.
Ugh, that had been really awkward. I felt like I wanted to shake myself, so I could get rid of the yucky sensation that stuck to my skin. But that would have ridden me of all the tingles I was still feeling too. That would also mean that I had to disentangle myself from Aaron’s arm and chest and body, and … I didn’t know if I wanted to do that.
You do, dumbass. This is not real.
And I needed to remember that bef
ore I did something really stupid.
If the chaos around me was anything to go by, I’d say we had a little situation in our hands.
“No me lo puedo creer,” my cousin cried in the middle of a less than perfect circle of people, throwing her arms in the air like the world was coming to an end. “No podemos jugar así. Se cancela todo. Esto un desastre. No, no, no, no.”
She grabbed a few of the T-shirts from the open box at her feet and hurled them at the floor.
Whoa.
“Esos malnacidos—”