thing Zaf had already swallowed the last of his sandwich, because if he hadn’t, he might be choking right now. “Erm,” he wheezed. “What? Wait, seriously? Danika. Are you fucking with me? Because—”
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes.
“Yes, you’re fucking with me?”
“Yes, I’m serious. It’s a smart plan. My grandmother used fake relationships for publicity all the time.”
Was he hearing things now? “Your grandmother did what?”
Dani waved a hand. “Doesn’t matter. If this will help you shine a spotlight on your, erm . . . Tackle It situation, well”—she shot him a wry smile—“I’ll consider it my good deed of the season.” She turned slightly, her gaze focusing on something to their right. “We have company, by the way.”
It took Zaf a minute to process that, since his thoughts were still scattered by disbelief. “What?” He looked up, saw the trio of girls hovering a few meters away with their phones out, and scowled. “For fuck’s sake. I came out here to eat because everyone kept staring at my desk like I was a giraffe.”
“Do you want publicity or not?” Dani asked sternly.
No was his instinctive response. But the right kind of publicity, he reminded himself, could help in countless ways, so he’d better buck up. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Then fix your face,” she told him.
“What?” Zaf was saying that quite a lot at the moment. Understandably, he thought.
“I’m the catch of the century on paper, if not in reality,” Dani said. “No one’s going to believe you’ve been blessed with my affection if you stand there glaring at everything like the world pissed on your pillow.”
“What does that even—?”
Before he could finish the question, she closed the space between them, her hands sliding over his shoulders and her tits—holy fuck—her tits pressing firmly against his chest, so soft and ripe and full he felt like he might pass out. The blood rushed to his cock so fucking fast it left him dizzy. Actual dark spots blinked in front of his eyes for a second. Apparently, Dani’s chest was as dangerous as a spear tackle.
Made sense.
In that moment, everything inside Zaf—including the cold marble of worry that lived in his gut—got really still and really silent, really fucking quick.
An instant later, his body boomed back to life, every part of him hotter and harder than before. Raw, animal want ignited in his belly, spreading fiery tendrils through him until he vibrated with the need to touch her, grab her, something. His muscles tensed, his body tightened, the pulse of his blood ached beneath his skin. Then her hand cupped his face, and he was decimated. She looked at him with those eyes, those fucking eyes, and it felt . . . it felt like that moment in an apocalyptic film when the nuclear bomb drops. When an invisible force sweeps across a landscape—whoosh—and wipes out everything in its path.
What the fuck was this? He’d known she was beautiful, and charming, and hypnotic. He’d known he was kind of—okay, completely—into her. But what. The. Fuck. Was. This?
Something entirely new, that’s what. An alien species of lust. Did he kill it before it killed him, or watch and wait and see what happened?
“Try to look enamored,” she murmured, a laugh in her voice. Maybe she didn’t know he was dying. Yeah, that had to be it. She tipped her head back and looked up at him through her lashes, a dare in her eyes. “You could even kiss me, if you like.”
If he liked?
Zaf had spent more time than was healthy, over the six months since he’d met Dani, wondering if she might be attracted to him. Now she was looking at him like he was dessert, her tongue gliding over her plush lower lip, asking if he’d like to kiss her. Hell yes, he’d fucking like. But . . .
But she’d only suggested it because they were being watched, and knowing that cooled the burn of his desire, just a little.
Not enough to stop, though. She bit her lip again and shifted, every lush curve pressing tight against him, and in that moment, Zaf knew the only thing that could stop him was her. Good-bye, self-control. We barely knew ye.
“Unless you don’t want to,” she murmured after a moment, “which is also—”
“I want to,” he said, because fuck that noise. Fuck even letting her finish that bullshit sentence. And then, before he could change his mind, Zaf made the only sensible choice he could and kissed the life out of Danika Brown.