Stay

His phone safely in her possession, she bowed her head for a moment in relief. Her forehead rested against his chest.

Focus.

The delivery must be stopped. Sitting up, Mia ignored the pain of her bare knees against the cold marble tile, ignored Alexi, and madly scrolled through his new emails. Found it. Mia hit delete, erasing all her messages from today and then looked down at him in triumph.

He had her phone.

Horror squashed her triumph.

He was reading her emails.

Unbelievable.

His eyes glinted.

I will destroy you. She reached out. A pull on her arm dragged her back and upward.

“What are you doing?” Hope sounded flustered and agitated. Her cheeks were flushed and she was biting her lip.

Mia didn’t answer. She swiped a strand of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

Alexi didn’t answer. He rose quickly and brushed at his slightly less pressed clothes.

Hope looked between them.

“Nothing,” Mia said. “We’re not doing anything.”

Alexi shrugged, closed Mia’s phonecase, handed it to her and took his out of her unresisting grip. “It is nice to meet you in person, too.” Alexi looked at the door Niko had disappeared through. “What did Cook make for lunch? It’s lunchtime here, yes?”

Hope guided him toward the buffet, her shoulders easing.

Alexi hovered over the serving containers, poking items with the oversized silver spoon as he considered his choices and filled his plate high.

Her own abandoned plate and souvenir seemed to belong to someone else. How had it all gone so wrong? Her new girlfriend was a guy. They were having so much fun texting. Maybe he was gay, and he could still be her friend, and they could laugh about this encounter. Alexi returned her steady gaze with a gleam and a quick glance down her body. Nope, he’s straight.

Hope went back to her spot. “Mia’s going to help you settle in. We set up your room, but want you to feel at home, so make all the changes you want.” To Hope’s credit, very little doubt leaked into her voice.

“I am sure it’s fine. Thank you.” Alexi was one of those confident guys who just seemed to know his way around, though Niko hadn’t lived here that long, so he probably hadn’t been here before. He sat beside her.

She had made him welcome. His room. Peach and lavender bath pearls. Apple and jasmine shower gel. Noo. The poster board. A full-scale campaign to launch a foreign teenage girl into an American high school. The water bra. He’d read and known about the water bra. There was no way he could see the plan. Mia half rose. “May I be excused?”

Alexi narrowed his deep blue eyes and kept them on her in a foreign gesture. He tilted his head. Slowly he put his fork and knife down.

She couldn’t wait for Hope’s response. Mia darted out, hit the stairs and took them two at a time. There it was, the red, white, and blue sheet-covered mistake, sitting in the middle of the game room. She grabbed the poster.

“Is that for me?” Alexi asked from the doorway. He swung a red apple in his hand, then raised it to his mouth and took a bite. The fruit crunched between his perfect white teeth.

He even had nice teeth. Mia clutched the poster to her chest and backed farther into the recreation room. “Nope, it’s a school project,” she lied. Heat rose in her face like the Texas sun in August. She’d blushed more in the thirty minutes since meeting him than she had all year. The bottom of the sheet brushed against her legs. She needed to loosen her grip; she was giving away her desperation and smearing glitter glue on herself. Loosen, fingers. They didn’t. She gripped the paper so hard it was bending in her hands.

Alexi took another bite. His gaze tracked her like she was a Bald Eagle and he was holding a rifle with a hankering for protected wildlife for lunch. “Let me see it.”

“No.” She turned to escape.

Alexi caught her in a few steps. He’d texted that he was a runner; he hadn’t said he was super-fast. He threw one arm around her waist and grabbed the poster with the other. The concealing sheet slid down, leaving the poster board, cold apple, and his hand against her waist. Her heart thudded.

“You promised. Greek lessons for American lessons,” Alexi said. Promises sounded so different delivered in his warm, accented voice.

This close, she could smell his cologne again. Man, he smelled nice. Was that aftershave? Shower gel? Cologne? All three? Holy hygiene trinity. She breathed in and slapped at his restraining arm, even though it actually felt nice and she’d prefer leaning back into him. Mia tugged on the poster board.