“I’m going to tell you a secret, but you can’t tell anyone.” Blake held Farrah’s hand as they walked along the Bund. The lights from the buildings shimmered on the Huangpu River, turning its waters into a rainbow of hues.
The past few weeks had passed by in a blur of nights on the town, stolen kisses between classes, and heated makeout sessions in Blake’s room. He found himself doing things that used to make him cringe, like leaving Farrah cheesy Post-It notes in random places and buying her flowers for no reason. What’s worse, he enjoyed doing those things.
Yep, he was a goner, and he didn’t care.
“Color me intrigued.” Farrah tapped a finger to her chin. “Let me guess. You’re a spy, sent on a mission to infiltrate a group of hapless American study abroad students who may or may not be harboring state secrets.”
“Right on the first try. Mission: get close to the target.” Blake stopped and faced Farrah, closing the gap between them until their mouths were inches apart. “How am I doing?”
“You’re doing a bang-up job, Agent Ryan.” Farrah’s breath whispered across his lips. “Keep this up and you might get a promotion.”
“Might? Guess I have to work harder.” Blake traced her lips with his tongue, teasing her until she caught his head in her hands and brought their mouths together in a searing kiss. She tasted like sunshine and honey and warmth, and he wanted to drown in her. To get so swept up in her depths, no one could find him. It’d be just the two of them, lost in infinity.
“Mom, look!” The high-pitched voice sliced through his bliss.
Blake cracked one eye open to see a little boy staring at them with curiosity and disgust.
“What are they doing?”
The boy’s mother frowned. “Nothing. They’re…doing adult things. You’re too young to know.”
“But—”
“Let’s go.” She grabbed her son’s hand and hurried him along, but not before glaring at Blake. If looks could kill, his corpse would be eating dirt.
“Oops.” Farrah giggled against his mouth. “I think we offended her sensibilities.”
“Did you see the way she looked at me? You’d think I was having an orgy on the riverfront instead of kissing my girlfriend.”
The word slipped out without thinking.
Farrah’s eyebrows rose. “Girlfriend?”
Fuck.
It had been two weeks since their first kiss, and they’d yet to discuss their relationship status. Exclusivity wasn’t official but implied.
Blake licked his lips. “Sorry, I didn’t mean girlfriend. I meant girl. Friend.”
“I see.”
“No pressure.”
“Ok.”
He had a horrible feeling he was digging himself into a deeper hole with each word coming out of his mouth.
“So, how about that kiss?” Blake flashed his dimples in an attempt to warm Farrah’s expression. It didn’t work. “Pretty great, huh?”
“Mmmhmm.”
Ah, dammit. It was time to stop beating around the bush. “Look. It’s not that I don’t want you to be my girlfriend. It’s just—” He searched for the right words to say. “We haven’t talked about it, and I don’t want to assume. We’re here for a year. We don’t know what’ll happen once we leave. I don’t want to put too much pressure on us and the time we have together.”
“So you want us to be friends with benefits like you and Mina?”
“Fuck no!” Friends with benefits were, by definition, not exclusive. The thought of Farrah touching another guy—or another guy touching Farrah—caused Blake to see red. Then he saw the hurt expression on her face and realized how his interjection must’ve come across. “Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to have sex with you. But it’s not—I mean, we don’t have to have sex. No pressure on that either. Or with the relationship. Not that we have a relationship.”
He didn’t make sense, even to himself.