Page 46 of Start With A Slap

“No, I hate you.”

“Only on principle. Strip that away, fact is, youlikeme.”

That wasn’t the point. What was the point? Under his slow-spreading grin, it took her a moment to return the subject to its proper place.

“I can’t believe you took me to meet your mother! Mygrandmother-in-law — without so much as a warning!”

“Would you have come in if I’d warned you?”

She paused. “Probably?”

“Look. I had to see her, and it’s nice to have a buffer with me when I do, end of story.”

“That feels a smidge above my pay grade,” she said snidely, and began walking again. “So why did you have to see her?”

“Oh, you know. She’s dying. At long last. Anyway, I’ve got to stop in whenever I come to Paris or the...” he wiggled his fingers, “guilt eats at me.”

“I thought sociopaths don’t have guilt.”

He smiled as if she was a cute kid who’d just said the darnedest thing, and took her hand. “Come on. Let me make it up to you.”

She whined. “I can’t take any more surprises, Sever. Where are we going?”

“Not sure yet. That’s part of the fun.” Perhaps it was because he’d just seen his mother, but he gave off a distinct rebel teenager vibe as he guided her down the cobbled streets toward the canal. Ivy braced for whatever he’d spring on her next.

A river tour boat pulled in to port, and Ivy mentioned in passing that she hadn’t taken a tour like that since she was thirteen. Her French friends thought it was gauche.Momentarily distracted by a gallery, she found that he was suddenly gone from her side.

She watched Sever stride to the water’s edge, pull out a thick billfold, and confer with the operator. When he waved her over with a dazzling smile, Ivy was both thrilled and mortified. A dozen people were waiting in line, and he’d bribed his way into a private ride for just the two of them.

The guilt faded, however, as the canopied cruiser meandered through the quaint canals of the Saint-Martin district. And she couldn’t help but be entertained as Sever told, in lurid detail, the lesser known historical origins of each landmark they passed.

At the conclusion of a particularly vivid story, Ivy asked, “How do you know all this stuff?”

“Good question.” He sat back in his chair. “The answer is... I don’t.”

“You...” Her jaw dropped as he laughed at her. “You just made all of that up?”

“For someone smart as you, you’re remarkably gullible.”

She gasped and swatted his arm. Then his thigh. He gave her a meaningful glance and she covered her mouth.Bad touch!“Ohgodsorry.”

“Second strike,” he said. “Next one you’re out. Or should I say ‘in’?”

“Hey, wait, no. No to the in and out. That was an accident! I was pissed off, I wasn’t... turned on.”

“Two emotions that are so easily confused.”

“Tch.” She smirked sidelong at him.

“Just tell me this,” he said. “Are you having fun?”

“Do you always have to point it out to me when I am?”

“Until you admit you like me, yeah.”

“Never happen.” Her phone chimed, and she quickly fished it out of her purse. It wasn’t Jason. It was a message from Bijou:still in town tomorrow? come to my show...

Sever said, “Still haven’t heard from Jason, I take it.”

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