Page 59 of Why Not Both?

“Yep. Heading home. It’s a nice night. Want to walk together?”

I hesitate. Do I want to be alone with him while those words are still circling my thoughts like sharks? While wearing his hoodie, which I’ve long since stopped trying to give back to him. He always just puts it right back on me, anyway.

But it is a lovely night and we’ve had a week straight of rain, so eventually, I say, “Sure. Just give me a few minutes to get changed.”

I retreat to my office and quickly change out of my chef jacket and pants and back into leggings and a t-shirt. I take the clip out of my hair, letting it down and running my fingers through it to ease the tension in my scalp. Then I pull on his sweater and grab my purse.

“Nice hoodie,” Spencer says with a smirk when I come out.

I arch an eyebrow at him. “If you’re not going to take it back, I’m going to keep using it. Someone ought to.”

Then he gives me that look. The one that never fails to set butterflies fluttering in my belly. The one that tells me he thinks I look beautiful. I wonder if he’s remembering the kiss upstairs. His whispered words, As you wish.

“I’m not Buttercup,” I say. “And you’re not Westley.”

He searches my eyes for a moment, but I start toward the door, leaving him to catch up.

“What do you have against Buttercup and Westley?” he asks when he does.

“Against Westley, nothing.”

He locks the door behind us after we exit into the cool June night. We’re the last two again.

“He falls in love with Buttercup and basically does everything he can to prove it,” I continue. “He goes to seek his fortune, becomes the Dread Pirate Roberts, rescues her from Vizzini, and on and on. But Buttercup? She gives up on him. Again and again.”

We cross the street and start along the Seawall toward home.

“In Buttercup’s defence, at first she thinks he’s dead.”

“I’ll give her that one. But she just goes along with Prince Humperdink. She could have said no to him. Did she think once they were married, she wouldn’t have to put out? Because I assure you, she would.”

“Well. Not really. He was planning to kill her the whole time.”

“She didn’t know that.”

I steal a glance at him. He’s looking at me with that smile on his face. The one that tells me he’s laughing at me. I turn forward again.

“Then Westley finds her, and she tells him, point blank, I will never doubt again. And then she does! Almost immediately after. If I ever told someone I’d never doubt them again, I’d fucking mean it.”

“This has got you really fired up.”

“It’s just… Westley spends the whole movie doing everything he can to get her back and she never does anything to help him. I never thought it was fair.”

“Think of it this way. Westley knew, from the very beginning of the movie and even before then, that he was in love with her. That what they had was real and could last forever. Not everyone has that kind of instinct. Buttercup had to have proof. And she went with Humperdink the second time to try to protect Westley.”

“You don’t think Buttercup is an idiot?”

He shakes his head. “I think if she was, Westley wouldn’t have fallen in love with her.”

The night is chilly, even with his hoodie on, and I shiver.

“Are you cold?” he asks.

“Unless it’s scorching hot, I’m probably cold. It’s a curse. Ask me next month. I’ll be warm then.”

He walks a little closer, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. His heat sinks into me. I wrap my arm around his waist because it’s the best way to keep my balance while he’s walking so close to me. And because he’s warm and I’m cold. Not at all because I want to be closer to him. I look up at him. His blond hair is a little messy from running his fingers through it all day. His crystal blue eyes smile down at me. There’s a smirk on his full lips.

The kiss flashes through my mind again and I look away before I do something stupid.

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