Page 37 of Your Place or Mine

She paused. “In hindsight, that part might’ve been too much.”

“Youthink?”

She gave me an apologetic shrug. “Look, I know you can handle yourself. But I also know what it looks like when you’re trying to pretend you’re not hurt by something or someone.”

“I’m not hurt,” I said, which was onlya littlelie. “I’m just… annoyed. He’s judgmental, grumpy, and acts like I’ve personally offended every nail in the floorboards of his bar.”

Melanie leaned against the counter, arms crossed. “You like him.”

“I donot.”

“Youdo.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out.

Because the truth was that Ihadbeen thinking about him.

More than once.

Okay… more than once.

Callum Benedict, with his dark, messy hair and those brooding green eyes that always looked like he was one bad idea away from setting something on fire. The way he leaned against the bar like it belonged to him, which it did, and the faint smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth when he was two seconds away from being insufferable.

And the way he looked at me…not like I was fragile or delicate, but like I was a challenge.

I hated that I liked it.

I despised how much I enjoyed flipping it back to him and making him nervous, if that were even possible.

Melanie watched me flounder, smug as hell. “Busted.”

“I’m just… confused,” I said, collapsing onto one of the mismatched stools near the window. “He’s rude and condescending and completely against everything I stand for. And yet...”

“You want to nibble his ear.”

“Melanie!” I scowled. “I don’t want to nibble anything.”

“Just saying.”

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “Why do I always fall for the emotionally unavailable ones with commitment issues and deep-seated grudges against decorative throw pillows?”

“Because you like a project,” she said. “Only now the project has biceps and a scowl. Much better than the last one, who struggled picking up a grocery bag.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You have a point.”

I peeked at her through my fingers. “Is it obvious?”

“Not to him,” she said. “He’s too busy convincing himself you’re the harbinger of renovation and doom.”

“Excellent. That’s exactly the vibe I was going for.”

Melanie softened then, the teasing slipping into something gentler. “I know you didn’t come here for a guy. And I know you're not looking to fall into something when you’re still climbing out of the last chapter.”

I nodded slowly.

“But I also know you,” she continued. “And you’ve got a thing for people who don’t know what to do with you or even themselves.”

“That sounds exhausting.”

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