Page 87 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“Hair off your neck.

“Split lip bleedin’.

“Wine in one hand. Cig in the other.

“Manhattan lit the fuck up behind you.”

He slides his crewneck off,

then his white tee,

his chest rising underneath,

gold chain glinting around his neck,

abs shadowed under the terrace lights.

And that tattoo⁠—

ink slashed across his ribs.

It shakes my pulse every time.

He whistles low. “Don’t even know, do you? How fuckin’ sexy you are.”

He undoes the button of his pants

and lowers the zipper.

“Lemme take a picture?

“For when you leave my ass again.”

He swipes his phone off the chair behind him, then stands with his pants undone, zipper split wide, boxers riding low on the edge of his hips. A light trail of dark hair cuts a narrow path from his navel, through his V.

He snaps a photo.

I flick ash off my cig, turning my back to look out at the city. “Better make it your lock screen,” I say. “Save yourself the time tomorrow for when you’re alone.”

“Look at you,” he mutters behind me.

“Already plannin’ your next exit.”

My gaze climbs back to him.

“You smokin’ with me or just watchin’?”

Andrew chuckles as he sinks into the steam, eyes hot on me. “I don’t smoke.” He flicks his fingers for one. “But, yeah, aight. Gimme one. Ain’t lettin’ you do it alone.”

I reach for the pack and slide one out.

“I don’t smoke all the time,” I explain, holding out a cig to him. “Maybe when the climax don’t hit. When I’m tryin’ to burn off a Boy. When I’m tryin’ not to cry.” I move closer through the water, my hips parting his knees. “Alone in the studio when the words don’t come out right.”

His eyes track me as he brings the cigarette to his mouth.

I flick the lighter once and hold it steady.

The flame jumps between us,