Page 25 of The Shifting Sands Beneath Us

I frowned at him. “You want a picture with me?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “I meant that you could hand over your phone and I could take a picture of you.”

“Oh, that makes more sense.”

I handed it over and smiled as he fidgeted with the camera. “Are you done,” I asked through burning cheeks. There was only so long I could smile.

He was concentrating way harder than he should have to for this picture. “There.”

He handed the phone back to me, and I shook my head at his antics. He’d gone into Superimpose and given me a pig nose and ears. “That wasn’t exactly the look I was going for.”

“Why do you even have that app on your phone? I didn’t take you for that kind of woman.”

“My friend Clarissa put it on my phone.”

“And you can’t delete it?”

“I have many times. Clarissa is a force to be reckoned with.”

The waitress came out and took our drink orders. I hadn’t even looked at the menu yet, but I already knew I would only order fruit. It was the only thing I could stand this early in the morning.

James was staring at me in that way he always did, like he could see through me, but was also trying to figure me out at the same time. It made me squirm in my seat. I wasn’t used to anyone looking at me with such intensity.

“Stop staring at me.”

His eyes glinted in the morning light. “You’re beautiful.”

“That’s not keeping things…simple.”

“It’s true,” he shrugged.

“It’s confusing.”

“Why?”

“Because we said this would only be…that we wouldn’t act on anything.”

“Looking at you isn’t acting on anything.”

“No,” I squirmed in my seat. “But it’s not making this attraction any easier to fight.”

I glanced away so I wouldn’t have to see the intensity in his eyes. The playfulness from a few days ago was gone, and left now was the man behind the curtain. If he wanted to play it this way, we were going to have a serious conversation, which I was about to say when the waitress came back out.

“Ready to order?” she asked, her blonde ponytail swaying as she looked at both of us.

“I’ll just have the bowl of fruit.”

She snorted as she wrote down my order, a slight smirk tilting her lips. I rolled my eyes. Apparently, because I didn’t eat a lot for breakfast, that said something about me as a person.

“And you, sir?”

“Denver Omelet.”

She hummed in approval, shooting me a weird look as she walked away. I picked up my coffee and took a sip, trying to ignore the waitress as best as possible.

“You’re still staring at me,” I said, not bothering to look at James. I didn’t need to. I could feel his eyes on me like they were burning a hole inside me.

“Who is this guy you’re married to?” he asked suddenly.