Page 52 of The Exception

“Okay, then.” He stood to leave, his hand on the doorknob, when he stopped and turned back to her, pointing at her croissant. “You might want to save that. I brought you a couple of the Nutella brownies I made yesterday.”

An image of him shirtless except for an apron, licking brownie batter off of a wooden spoon flashed through her mind.

Again, not good, Sonya.

She blinked that unproductive thought away. While she was killing herself on the treadmill and planning out how to recover their working relationship and their friendship, he was making brownies?

Annoying wasn’t even the word.

“You made brownies? Yesterday?”

“Baking relaxes me,” he admitted. “But don’t get it twisted. I always bake brownies after accidentally making out with one of my friends.”

She shook her head and held in her chuckle until he was out of her office.

* * *

“Did you give him the list?” Dani asked as she climbed over the console, into the backseat of Sonya’s SUV. They’d pulled up to Trav’s apartment at exactly five on the dot, and Sonya’s other two passengers were already annoying her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She gave Dani’s ass a shove, sending her tumbling onto Dylan. “And shut up.”

“The Sonya Says list,” Dylan supplied, helping Dani into her seat.

Sonya shot him a look in the rear-view. When she bought her SUV, and it became the go-to transportation for road trips for their ever-expanding group, she’d laid down a few…guidelines.It wasn’t her fault her friends had zero car safety skills or road trip etiquette and had to be reminded constantly.

It was one of the mostSonyathings she’d ever done, and she definitely hadn’t mentioned it to Trav.

“Some people don’t need a set of written rules to know how to act right,” she said.

Dani fixed her ponytail, eyeing Sonya in the mirror. “And you know him so well because you’renotsleeping with him?”

Dylan snorted.

Sonya sighed. She might as well spend the next four hours with a ticking time bomb in the back seat between the two of them and their penchant for saying whatever the hell they felt like. Why couldn’t she have just made up a story about her car being in the shop and hitched a ride with Emma?

“For the hundredth time, I’mnotsleeping with him.”

Dylan pushed his elbow into Dani’s side and winked. “Have you ever thought you might be a little less uptight if you were?”

Sonya clapped her hands like a school teacher teaching syllables. “Shut. Up. Both. Of. You.”

“Don’t worry, Sonya,” Dani said. “We won’t embarrass you.”

Sonya’s eyes moved to Dylan, narrowing. He dropped his expensive sunglasses onto his nose and slouched in his seat. “Don’t look at me. I’m not funny until after seven.” He tugged Dani’s ponytail. “Wake me up when she admits it.”

“Admits what?” Trav opened the passenger side door, and Sonya quickly pasted on a smile.

“Nothing. Hey. I mean, good morning. Cause it’s early.”Oh my god.Could she be any more awkward? She cleared her throat and started again. “Let me put your bags in the back.”

“I’ve got it,” he said, but she’d already launched herself out of the car like it was on fire.

Trav met her at the tailgate, his expression half amusement, half nervousness, and she suddenly felt silly. She was acting like she was about to ask her crush to prom, but it was just Trav. Sure he looked fit and athletic in the t-shirt and shorts he’d chosen, and he had some sort of bedhead thing going on that was borderline adorable and made her palms sweat, but she needed to set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

This was their move on opportunity, and if she couldn’t handle a little ribbing from Dani and Dylan, she wasn’t as prepared for this as she thought.

“Hi,” she said, taking a deep breath.

“Morning.” He smiled. “Everything alright?”

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