“Mara’s going to be pissed enough as it is,” I tell him as I pull on my boots. I’m sweaty and discombobulated. It was definitely a mistake to come back here. We had sex twice. Once on the couch. Once in his bedroom an hour later. Thrice if you count the stuff that happened in between. We had amazing sex. I stare blankly at the wall across from his bed.

I feel Zarar sit up behind me. “Can I have twenty questions before you run off?”

I shift, turning halfway to look at him. “Why?”

“Because this was a first date, and I didn’t get the answers to some things I’d like to know.” My stomach flutters with the steady intensity of his gaze.

I look up at the ceiling, batting my eyelashes and pulling a silly innocent expression as Z maneuvers closer. “You can have seven.”

His hand slides from my waist down over my thigh. “You got twelve.”

I exhale a slow breath, trying to keep a clear head as my insides reignite. “Eight, and that’s my final offer.”

Zarar’s still shirtless. I underestimated what was under those layers. He said he was a personal trainer earlier this year. He carried me half the way to Terry’s cabin last week. I should have been more prepared. I can’t look directly at him or I’m going to jump his bones again.

I focus on those gentle eyes. “You promise to answer them all and answer honestly?” he asks.

“Yes,” I huff.

He tilts his head thoughtfully. “Favorite movie?”

I hold up a finger like he did earlier. “Men in Black 2.”

His forehead scrunches up. “What? Why?”

Two. “Will Smith, Aliens, weirdness, comedy.”

“Longest sexual relationship?”

Three. “A month.”

“Did you use the B word?”

Four. I shake my head. “No, we had a friends-with-benefits agreement.”

“Do you like me as more than a friend?”

Five. I look away from him at the blood red comforter thrown haphazardly on the floor. “Yes.”

“I thought so.”

I whip my head back to shoot him an irritated look.

“Okay, is that it?” I raise my brows and pull on an over-the-top smile, pushing up off the mattress.

He grabs my hips before I can get away and pulls me back down onto him. As hard as I try not to laugh, a snort escapes me. I squirm and he gets me on my back, straddling me on his knees. He pins my arms at my sides, and I’m beaming, and I feel like my heart has been lit up from the inside and it’s shining light through my every orifice and it’s horrifying.

And now I’m looking directly at his naked torso again. What am I supposed to do with that?

He catches my gaze with a side smile. “Eyes up here, James.”

I cackle under him.

“Is this okay?” he asks.