Page 233 of If You Give an Artist a Killer Muse

His face softens as he takes the bags from me, “Yeah. Of course.”

And then I fight the urge to pinch myself, thinking I must be dreaming because he did the most surprising thing ever.

He holds out his hand and waits for me to take it.

I stare at it, blinking.

Is he… Is he serious? He wants to hold my hand? In public? Holy fuck. I’m dreaming—

“Briar?” Rurik asks, his brows furrowing. “Shall we continue?”

I grin cheesily as I take his hand, reveling in his fingers wrapping around mine.

In public.

“Yes, let’s go.” I flash him a teasing grin, “Did you miss me, angel?”

But Rurik just rolls his eyes. That’s fine because I feel like I’m on cloud 9. I can’t believe he’s holding my hand in front of everyone!

This is unbelievable. This is wild.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks.

I clear my throat and look at him. He’s staring at me with amusement as I swing our clasped hands together.

“Nothing,” I grin. “Just thinking about food.”

Rurik smirks as he leads me to other vendors, where we pick out veggies, playfully debating what should go with dinner tonight and what we don’t need to buy. Ultimately, we both end up with arms full of grocery bags, which is fine. I will never complain about having a full fridge and pantry.

After deciding to call it quits, Rurik and I head toward the exit, where I accidentally bump into someone.

“Oh!” I gasp, my heart skipping as I scramble to grab the grocery bags that fell on the floor. “Sorry! I’m so sorry.”

I look up, ready to apologize to the stranger and hand them their bags, but I freeze.

I can feel Rurik stiffen beside me, too, our faces draining of color as we face the man I least expected to see today.

After a few seconds of us staring at each other, I straighten up and clear my throat. “Why, hello there, Mr. Senator.”

Chapter 35

Rurik

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

What the fuck do I do?

I told him I ended things with Briar. Nausea and regret wash over me as I glance between the two. Oh God, my stepdad is going to hurt her. He’s going to take her away from me. He’s probably calling for back-up already…

Fuck.

I clear my throat and plaster the best smile I can make. “Hey, sir. I didn’t realize you visited this area?”

But my stepdad just glares at Briar before turning his focus to me.

His brows raise. “What’s the meaning of this?”

My smile vanishes as I let go of Briar’s hand.

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