Page 24 of Scarlett and the Kiss Thief

He’d told me I looked sexy yesterday while I was wearing them. And then changed it to beautiful. Did he still think that when I was wearing flats? “My dad was not impressed with my new look. He confiscated my Odegaards so…” I shrugged. It didn’t look like Jacob was staring at me any differently than yesterday.

He laughed. “I like you better mini-sized anyway.”

I laughed. “I’m not mini-sized.”

“Pint-sized.” He put his hand on the top of my head to show how much smaller I was than him. But everyone was smaller than him. He was over 6-feet tall.

“Worse.”

“Bite-sized.” Something darkened in his eyes when he said it.

I swallowed hard.

“The bell’s about to ring,” Axel said and stood up. “And I promised your dad you wouldn’t be late.”

I tore my eyes away from Jacob as Axel grabbed my hand.

I thought he’d drop it as soon as he got my attention, but instead he wound his fingers through mine and pulled me up the stairs.

Axel Stevens is holding my hand.

He still didn’t let go as we entered through the front doors.

He’s holding my hand in the hallways of Empire High!

I saw a few heads turn. And when Sophie saw us her jaw actually dropped. The Triple Gs had similar expressions on their rude faces. Gigi looked the most shocked of all. And I’m pretty sure it made my smile grow even bigger, if that was possible.

Axel Stevens is holding my hand while I’m wearing his varsity jacket!

I looked down to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. But Axel was indeed holding my hand. I would have pinched myself, but even if it was all in my head, I didn’t want the fantasy to end.

When we reached my locker, Axel said, “Hey, Sophie.” All normally like he wasn’t literally holding my hand right now.

“Axel,” she replied in an equally normal tone.

How was I the only one freaking out?

“See you at lunch, Scarlett,” Axel said. He slowly dropped my hand, his fingertips tracing down my palm.

I shivered. “Mhm.” My voice came out all croaky and weird.

He gave me one last smile and then walked away without another word. Like he hadn’t just held my hand for the first time since preschool. Like the whole world hadn’t just shifted on its axis.

Sophie closed her locker. She looked behind her to make sure Axel was out of earshot and then turned back to me. Her calm façade cracked, replaced by a huge smile. “What the actual f is happening right now? Did Phase Incest actually work?!”

I cringed. “Please stop calling it that. Let’s just call it Operation Too Hot to Handle.”

“You know perfectly well that Operation THTH has severalphases. Hence the flirting with Jacob thing – a la Phase Incest.”

“It’s not called that. There is no phase. It just…happened. And what do you meanactually worked? Did you expect it not to? You seemed so confident.”

“I was confident with the plan,” Sophie said. “I just thought it would take more time. But you excelled beyond my wildest expectations.”

I laughed.

“I saw him waiting for you on the front steps. Did he finally ask you out?”

“No…”

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