Page 78 of Love Sick

“You’re welcome,” she says in a singsong voice and disappears into the kitchen.

I stare after her. “I think she thinks I’m into you.”

“No.” He sighs. “She thinksI’mintoyou.”

“Oh.” I should have worn shorts. The leggings were a bad choice for the constant heat flaring in my skin. “Should I tell her we’re sworn enemies?”

He snorts. “Don’t bother. She’ll just try harder. You really don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. She’ll be insufferable with the matchmaking all night.”

A small lock of hair has flung itself over his forehead, and I can’t resist the urge to push it back. My fingers thread through his hair before landing in my lap. “I don’t mind it if you don’t. Would you like me to stay?”

This man wields eye contact like a weapon. He can steal oxygen from my lungs with a single glance. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “I’d like you to stay.”

The smile that grows on my face is like quicksand—I sink into the joy, transfixed. “Why does she call you BB?”

Faint color washes over the bridge of his nose. “Oh. Um. It’s—nothing.”

Captivated by his stare, his nonanswer barely registers. This close, the amber hiding in the depths of his eyes flirts with my sanity. He leans in. Draws a breath.

“BB, where are the oranges?” Tori shouts from the kitchen.

His eyes fall shut and he pulls away. “I hate you, Victoria.”

I giggle.

Tori pokes her head around the corner, grinning. “I’m going to tell Mom you used theHword.”

Julian

OCTOBER, YEAR 2

“Are you in love with her?”

I glare at Tori across the restaurant table, the bevy of juices for our mimosas between us. Brunch has been her favorite meal since I turned twenty-one and we could both legally get trashed on champagne at eleven in the morning. Since she leaves tomorrow, she demanded we brunch.

She also demanded Grace be invited, but sometimes I get my way.

Our table by the window at this busy gastropub is packed full of food and alcohol. Halloween decorations hang from the ceiling. Spiders, witches and ghosts spin above us in the circulated air.

I flick a straw wrapper at her. “Will you please stop asking me that?”

“I would if you’d answer it.”

“I have answered it.” I take a swig of what is essentially champagne with a drop of pineapple juice. “Multiple times.”

She rolls her eyes. “Not truthfully.”

“If you think you know, then why do you keep asking?”

“Because I want you to admit it.” She leans her elbows on the table. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. That puppy longing. You didn’t even look at Carlee like that, and you brought her home to meet Mom.”

I lift a finger. “Carleewithheld sex until she met Mom.”

Tori’s mouth drops open, then she descends into mocking laughter. “You fell for that?”

“Sex is a powerful motivator, Tor.”

“Hence the puppy longing for Grace and her flashcards,” she says with a wide grin.

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