Her heart raced with excitement but Rina tried to shrug it off. Turning back to Joel, she yawned dramatically and unbuckled the seatbelt, her hands on the lock of the door.
“Wait!” Joel stopped her. “You were just telling me something. What was it?”
“Never mind,” Rina answered in a breath. She couldn’t even remember what she’d been saying, and even if she could, Rina didn’t want to waste one more minute talking about something that could be gotten across later. She turned to look at the car again, an increasing need taking over.
He was so close by that she could feel it in the air. Rina didn’t know how to control how she felt right now. Perhaps, there was a small part of her that wasn’t even trying to.
“It sounded really important,” Joel pushed. “I don’t have anyone I’m in a hurry to get back to, so we might as well talk here. It’s a beautiful night.”
Rina yawned again, more dramatic this time. She didn’t wait a second as she pushed the door open, and stepped out, the chill of the night air tingling her exposed skin on her neck. She leaned into the window after closing the door.
“I’ll see you at the fashion house tomorrow,” Rina said in such a rush that he peered at her.
“Are you sure you are fine? Do you need me to walk you to the door?”
“No,” Rina said breezily, wearing her acting hat on the spot. She casually placed a hand on the body of the car. “I am just so spent right now. I am already imagining the comfort my bed will give me right now, and every second more I spend outside makes it look farther away from reach.”
Joel chuckled, then leaned out of his seat to ruffle her hair. “Do you always look this cute when tired?”
Rina swallowed too fast. “What?”
He leaned to the back of the seat and retrieved the flowers that had been sent earlier to the fashion house. “You forgot it in your office, and I wasn’t sure you would be keen on seeing them in there tomorrow.”
“Oh!” She took them from him. “Thank you. I’ll just…I’ll keep them. They are too beautiful to toss away.”
“Go to bed,” he whispered, starting his car. “I’ll see you tomorrow and we can pick up from where we stopped.”
Rina didn’t move from the spot until Joel had driven into the night, the purr of his engine too far away to be heard. She turned around slowly and walked to the door, her heart thumping hard against her chest. Rina placed a hand against it, pressing down to stop it from tearing through her chest.
Anticipation coursed through her as she pushed the door open, not bothering to fish for the key in her purse. It gave way underneath her palms, her living room coming into view exactly the way she’d left it.
Leaving the roses on the table in the living room, along with her purse, Rina sauntered further into the house, heading down into the hallway. She heard a sound coming from the basement, and she followed it, finding the lights turned on.
She leaned over at the landing to take a look, stopping when she saw him there, browsing through the wine shelf so casually that she would have easily believed he was in his own home. Leaning on the wall, Rina watched as his feet took forward, and his head leaned in closer to view the labeling on the bottle of another wine. The muscles on his arms bulged with every moment, and Rina had to remember to breathe.
“You’re going to have to pay for staring at me that long.” Rina leaned away from the wall, stunned by how her body responded to his voice. She felt a delicious tingle run up her spine, and Rina had to rub her left arm with her right to stop herself from giving in to it.
“How long have you been here?”
“Long enough.” He turned around, and Rina felt the room’s temperature go up a notch. Zayn looked exactly the way she remembered, maybe even hotter. She noticed he had grown his hair a bit longer, and his eyes were more weathered like he had been holding back on something to the point of exhaustion.
Those eyes raked through her, and Rina felt heat on every part of her body his eyes touched.
“What does long enough even mean?”
His upper lift raised in a small smirk that didn’t reach his eyes. Grabbing the bottle of wine he had been checking without even looking back at it, he ascended the stairs, each second bringing him closer to her.
But Rina didn’t move from that spot. Her feet refused to oblige her, staying rooted to the landing until he was right in front of her, his tall frame easily towering over her, blocking the light. Her lips parted, and her eyes grew unfocused.
Now, Rina was willing to blame the two cans of beer she’d had. Maybe Joel was right. She shouldn’t have had too much or gulped them down too fast. Because then, she wouldn’t have been standing here, looking up into his face, her eyes straying to his lips, perfect and inviting.
Zayn’s long lashes swept through his face as he looked down at her, and Rina thought it was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. She took an impossible step closer to him, certain it was the beer.
All the rationality in her screamed for her to lighten up the situation, to say something funny, and causally step away from him. But her lips only wanted to try out one thing.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but when she opened them back, Zayn was still watching her, with something else in his eyes. A reservation she hadn’t noticed earlier.
“Why did Joel drop you home?” Zayn said suddenly, piercing through the tension that had enveloped the room.