Page 59 of Best Served Cold

Hurt wells in my chest. But it’s not really hurt specifically caused by Jonah. All he did was stir up old feelings, the pain of a little girl who was rejected by everyone who was supposed to love her. “I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” he insists. Then he surprises me by taking my hand again. “And I think we should make a point of parading our happiness in front of him. I know where he likes to hang out.”

“Maybe,” I say, biting my lip this time. “He would certainly deserve it. But do you think it would even upset him? You heard what he said about me.”

“He was trying to save face. You’re beautiful, kind, and smart?—”

My laughter cuts him short.

He tilts his head in silent question, his hair tumbling a bit. “Did I say something funny?” he asks.

“You don’t think I’m smart.”

“Oh? What else do I think?”

“You don’t,” I insist. “You’ve always treated me as if I’m as dumb as a bag of rocks.”

Guilt passes over his face. “I didn’t think you were stupid. Just…basic.”

“Ouch,” I say, laughing.

“I was wrong, obviously. There’s nothing basic about you.”

“And you’re not nearly as much of a bad boy as I thought you were.”

He gives me a wicked smile. “You might want to reserve judgment on that one, Pollyanna.”

I huff out a sharp breath. I thought we were done with this Pollyanna business. “Why are you still calling me that? You just admitted that I’m not basic.”

“No, but you’re still inclined to think well of people until they prove otherwise. It’s one of the things I like about you.”

“Oneof the things?”

He smiles and shakes his head. “Now you’re just fishing for compliments. What would Mrs. Ginnis think?”

My mouth falls open.

“Am I allowed to touch you in public, Sophie? If you were my girlfriend, I would.”

I search him for signs that he’s teasing me. It’s impossible to tell. He’s looking at me like he could devour me whole, and the thought makes me squirm a little. Especially since I can still feel the brush of his lips against mine and his arm circled around me.

“You just did, didn’t you?” I ask, straightening.

“I did,” he agrees. “It felt pretty natural, didn’t it?”

It had felt…phenomenal.

“You can’t kiss me again,” I blurt, even though part of me wants to ask him to do it again, right now, while our friends are distracted talking at that table. Kissing him was so confusing and exciting and?—

“No, probably not,” he says, straightening up. His eyes lose the gleam they had, and I’m sorry for it. “But I’ll need to hold your hand, to touch your lower back. Little signals to show everyone you’re mine. That’ll drive Jonah crazy.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him Jonah never touched me like that. Not really. He’d put an arm around me sometimes, when we were at parties together, but he hadn’t treated me like I was someone he cherished and wanted to protect.

Emotion clogs my throat. “Okay.”

“Don’t sound so happy about it,” he says with a smile. “It’s going to be okay, Sophie. It’s all going to be okay. Someday this’ll be a story you’ll tell your kids. And they’ll know, like I do, that there’s nothing basic about Sophie Ginnis.”

He gets up from the table, leaving me staring at him, my whole being arrested by him.

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