Page 29 of Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice

Nothing. I wasn’t getting myself into anything, because I needed to remember this was purely a business transaction.

“The CGM and the pump makes life so much easier, though,” I said. “I can’t even remember what my life was like before these devices.”

“CGM? That’s the coin-sized device on your upper arm, isn’t it? To monitor your glucose levels continuously?” He shrugged when he saw my jaw dropping. “I’ve been doing some reading. Just a little. You know, just the basics.”

I stared at him, flabbergasted.

He’s been… reading up on diabetes?

Because of me?

Maybe I heard him wrong. Because that didn’t sound like the same Alec who used to ignore me when we were younger. Who never saw me as anyone other than Eric’s little sister.

What was happening here?

“I felt it was my responsibility to be prepared, since you’re a guest in my house,” he quickly added. “If something happened to you, I’d have to answer to Eric, and he can be damn scary when he’s angry. I’d prefer to avoid that.”

“Yeah.” I finally found my voice. “The CGM sends the information to my pump and the app on my phone. I don’t have tokeep pricking my fingers to check my levels, unless the CGM stops working, or when I’m feeling extremely low.”

“Gotcha.” He nodded. “Anyway, back to Jacqui. Is your favorite food still pizza?”

I blinked at him. “Yes, but what does it have to do with her?”

“I thought we could go through what we remember about each other. See if anything’s changed. Things like favorite color, favorite movie, favorite sport.”

This should be interesting.“Why don’t you start?”

“Sure. Your favorite color is mint green. You like dramas and comedies. Can’t stand gory movies. Hate carrot cakes but will never say no to brownies. You love all animals, except spiders. Your favorite candy is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. You can’t stand bullies and attention seekers. You’ll try everything in life once, because you want to prove that you can live as normal a life as everyone else.” He stopped at the dazed look on my face. “What? Have I got it all wrong?”

That was the problem. He didn’t.

He got all of them right.

“Impressive,” I managed, not knowing what to do with the fact that he knew—and remembered—those things about me. “Dramas and rom-coms now. And sushi, to add to the pizza. But yes, the rest are correct.”

“Your turn.”

How was I supposed to compete with that? “Your favorite movie genre is sci-fi. You hate reality TV shows. Favorite sport, basketball. You don’t have a favorite food, because you’ll eat just about anything, except licorice.” I gave him a questioning look. When he nodded, I continued, “You hate self-centered people. And you look up to your mother the most, because she sacrificed so many things in life to provide for you and your sisters. How did I do?”

A look of surprise briefly crossed his face. “Passed with flying colors.”

I grinned. “What about pet peeves? And maybe childhood crushes?”

“Why are those important?”

“Just in case.”

“My biggest pet peeve is people asking me about pet peeves. No childhood crushes.” He pulled out his phone and leaned his head toward me, before snapping a selfie of us.

“Let’s do another one.” I grabbed his phone and smiled at the waitress. “Hi, would you mind taking a photo for us?”

She took the phone as Alec stood up and came over to my side of the table. My eyes widened as he gently tugged me up, then sat down in my chair and pulled me down onto his lap. “What are you doing?” I hissed, as his hands went around my waist.

“Posing for a picture.” He propped his chin on my shoulder, assaulting my senses with his citrusy scent, and he was so warm and so close I wondered if he could hear the taiko drums putting on a performance from under my rib cage.

Maybe not, because he was flashing the waitress a charming smile, totally oblivious.

“Can you take a few? My girlfriend has this terrible habit of closing her eyes or looking somewhere else.” He gave me a nudge while I glared at him. “The camera’s over there,sweetheart.”

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