Page 134 of The Replay

She softens against me. "Tell me more."

"You did amazing, Mari. Truly impressive."

She sighs. Her face takes on a sweet, relieved gesture. We may be in a shaded spot, but the decorative garden allows enough light in that I can see every detail. Her skin is tinted in oranges from the fake candles, her pupils are wide, and her lips curl into a satisfied smile. She's so beautiful it hurts. It's yearning, I know.

I'm not sure where we're going from here and, man. I don't want to lose her.

"You know what else?" My question comes out in a breath.

"Mhh?"

"I'm proud it's me who you're with right now."

"Right now as in, this very moment… or right now because of our arrangement?"

"Do I need to choose?"

"You don't have to. As long as we have that conversation soon. The one you proposed at the luncheon."

Hope shines around her like a halo. She gazes at me with open eyes and I let myself get lost in them. My heart skips a beat, then resumes operations fast and hard, knocking against my sternum like it's desperate to ask me a question.

But we can't really talk here.

"If you leave with me tonight," I say, "we can chat about all of this properly tomorrow morning. In bed together. How does that sound?"

"It sounds tempting." Her smile widens, but there's a hint of nerves to the line of her mouth.

Her necklace is a simple, thin chain with several colorful crystals hanging from it in a cluster. It's off-kilter. Gently, I fix it so the pendant hangs in its right place.

I drop a quick, soft kiss on her lips. "Just tell me how we can make this happen. I'll go to your place if you want. Just tell me when you make it there. Doesn't matter the time."

"No, it's okay." She gazes down to my tuxedo and fixes my tie this time, even if I don't think it was askew. "I'll go to your place. The key code still works, right?"

"Yes, but I'll wait. We can go to my place together."

"I don't know what time I'll be done and with your knee I don't want you to have to stand around…"

I sigh. "Just come home to me, okay?"

"Okay." She nods and gives me one last kiss. "I have to go before people start looking for me."

She moves like she's going to leave, and I'm about to pull her to me, too weak to resist one last kiss, when I see her parents standing at the other side of the floral arrangement. Looking at us.

My eyes lock with Alicia's. Then James'.

"What?" Mariana asks me.

She doesn't wait for my answer. She follows my eyes.

"Fuck," she mutters.

After weeks of trying to prevent this very thing, her parents have learned there's something between us. Undeniably. And not because we chose to tell them. Now they take deliberate steps our way, in what seems an almost certain intent to ask a hundred questions from us.

They first have to round the arrangements to get into our little corner, and they don't rush. Mariana and I have a few seconds.

"I guess we're doing this now," she blinks up at me. "I hoped that after we talked—"

"Mari. Listen," I say quickly. "I'm going to talk to them. If I mess up, promise you and I will talk about it afterwards. Properly. Alone."