Page 93 of So Not My Thing
“Good to know. Ellie?”
“Yes?”
“Will you be my girlfriend?”
“2769.” It spelled CROW.
“What?”
“That’s my passcode.”
He busted out laughing, and the sound of it made my cheeks stretch into a bigger smile than I’d even thought I could make.
“I want to kiss you stupid right now, but since you’re still driving, I’m settling for karaoke.”
“Okay, but the real reason I didn’t want you to have my phone is because I don’t want you to see how many times I’ve played all your songs. It’s embarrassing.” But I was still smiling. I didn’t care if he knew anymore. He was myboyfriend.
He set my phone down. “That deserves a serenade. What can I sing for you?”
“Can’t Hide,” I said. I didn’t have to think twice about it.
He slid his hand into mine where it rested on the console between us and pressed a kiss to the back. “Don’t need the filter, just looking for real,” he sang softly, and I let the sound of his voice, stripped down but still warm and gorgeous, curl around me in the car. When he got to the chorus, I joined him, blending my voice with his.
His eyes widened but he kept singing, and I could feel his eyes on me the whole time as our voices wove together.
“You smile and I fall, can’t hide how I feel,” we sang as I pulled into the parking space.
I cut the engine and turned to face him in the quiet, even though it still felt like the notes were lingering between us. His eyes searched mine, and I met them, okay with sitting here and being seen completely.
“I knew it,” he finally said.
“Knew what?”
“That you were something special. And I just keep finding more layers.”
I had no defenses left against this man. None. And I didn’t care.
His phone vibrated, and he looked down at it. Smiling, he handed it to me. It showed a text from Anneke.
You’re in trouble for waking me up. Also, GIRLFRIEND? Unilateral?! I loooooove her.
I knew he was showing me so I could understand that he and Anneke were only friends, but it still gave me a jealous pang that he was texting her about this stuff. Friendships between men and women often turned to more, didn’t they?
I wouldn’t know. I had lots of friends, but not a lot of people who I let get close to me. I didn’t have a guy friend on the level of Chloe, and maybe I would feel differently about it if I did. But I couldn’t forget Aaron’s voice saying, “He’s had a hard time getting over her.”
Still, being weirdly possessive veered toward irrational crush territory, and not this-is-a-grown-up-relationship behavior, so I smiled at Miles and didn’t comment.
“I’ll wait with you for your Lyft,” I said instead. “What should we do while we wait?” His eyes glinted, and I laughed. “Besides that. I meant what we should talk about.”
“Let’s talk about how you’re going to drop by the Turnaround after work so we can mess around.”
“Miles!”
“On the piano,” he said, giving me a scandalized look. “What did you think I meant?”
I punched him in the arm.
“Fine. Let’s talk about the chef search, and how it’s hard in different ways than I expected.”
