Page 289 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 9
“All this,” she waved her hands in front of me, “is perfecto. Tim Gunn would rave. Even Nina Garcia would give you two thumbs up.”
“I can’t imagine her doing that.”
“She would…just once for this ensemble. Swatch would bark in appreciation. The other contestants would swoon.”
“You really know how to build up my confidence.”
She smiled. “And speaking of moving…did you call your dad?”
Kristen was great at a lot of things, but no one was worse at segues than her. I laughed. “I did.”
“And?”
“He doesn’t care where I go.”He doesn’t care about me.Thinking about him slashed that ego boost she had just given me. It was hard to think you were amazing when someone treated you like a literal pile of shit.
“Well…that’s great! Seriously, I can’t imagine going to the University of New Castle without you now.”
I knew what she meant. Just thinking about not going gave me a pit in my stomach.
“So are you going to tell J.J. you applied tonight? The cherry on top of your amazing date?”
“That’s the plan.” We hadn’t really given our relationship a label. He told me I was his. And that was wonderfully romantic. But I was hiswhatexactly? Girlfriend? Greatest love? Fuck buddy? I ignored my last thought. That was definitely not what we were. Part of me wanted to ask about what would happen to us once the summer ended before I told him about possibly transferring. It would give me a better understanding of where his head was at. But I didn’t want to play any more games with him. I’d give him all the information upfront. And hopefully we could agree to not just end this because the seasons changed.
Kristen smiled. “So what else did you and your dad talk about?”
God, I don’t want to talk about the king of the dicks before my date.“Not much. He said he was cutting me off financially…hence the new phone.”
“Oh.” Her smile was gone and it looked like she physically hurt for me. “I thought you just finally bought a new one because the screen was cracked.”
“Nope.” The “p” in nope popped weirdly. I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat.
“I’m sorry. Don’t think about him. Remember your dick diet?”
I laughed, remembering my drunken declaration of avoiding all dicks. “Right. Rule number one, no discussing dicks.”
“I doubt that was rule number one, but yes, enough about him,” she said. “And more about how amazing you look in that dress!”
I laughed at the same time there was a knock on the door. I rushed over, eager to see the one boy that somehow erased all the bad ones from my mind. The sight of him made the butterflies increase tenfold. He was wearing one of the new outfits we’d picked out together. He had left a few buttons open at the collar which made it look a little more casual. And he’d rolled the sleeves up like I’d shown him, showing off his muscular forearms.
“I knew that dress would look great on you.” He stepped forward and kissed my cheek.
I loved the dress. But hearing him say I looked good in it made it my favorite thing ever. I smiled up at him.
“Hey, Kristen,” he said over my shoulder. “I’ll have her back by…” he glanced at me. “Who am I kidding. I’m hoping to have her out all night.”
Kristen laughed. “No need to stay away. I’m heading to Reggie’s right after I dive into this delicious lasagna Mila made me. So you’ll have our apartment all to yourself tonight so you can try out that rolling pin.”
J.J. smiled and looked back at me.
I could feel the heat in his gaze. “Come on,” I said, pulling him to the door before Kristen could embarrass me anymore. She was worse than a parent sometimes. “Bye, Kristen!”
“If you hurt my girl, I’ll kill you in your sleep,” she said as we closed the door.
J.J. laughed again. “She’s intense. And…not serious, right?” He touched his throat like he was actually scared she’d slice it in his sleep.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and gave him what I hoped was an innocent smile. “If you don’t hurt me, you don’t have to find out.”Please don’t hurt me.
He caught my hand, stopping me before I could walk down the steps. “I’m not going to hurt you.” His other hand moved to the back of my neck.
