Page 60 of Getting Over You

She waves a hand. “That, too, I guess. It’s nice to think that you’re doing this because you like me, though.”

“Of course I do. You’re likable.”

Her ears turn pink. “Dessert?” she asks quickly, reaching for a dessert menu at the head of the table. “I want dessert.”

“Of course. Whatever your heart desires.”

Her smile is enough to illuminate the entire restaurant. And I want more of it.

We split a flourless chocolate cake with some raspberry stuff that Gigi callscompote. I didn’t know chocolate cake could be made without flour, but I’ll go so far as to say it’s better than if flour had been included. For twenty dollars, it should be.

When we get the bill, Gigi looks like she might reach for it. Which is the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen.

“Don’t even think about it,” I say as I capture the leather booklet. “No chance in hell you’re paying a dime, princess.”

“I was the one who wanted two bottles of wine,” she says, stern.

“I don’t care,” I shoot back coyly. “Isn’t it customary for the man to pay?”

She can’t argue her own logic.

“Tell me about your family,” I say as Gigi’s fighting to finish bottle number two. “What are they like?”

“You’ve met Belinda,” Gigi groans, rubbing the heels of her palms into her eyes. “But everyone else? Nothing like her.”

I sip the wine. My head is buzzing like I have a beehive starting in my brainstem. It’s not the wine. It’s entirely the drug that is Gigi Knox.

She tells me her dad is a lawyer, that her younger sister is starting college in the fall and has no idea what she wants to do. “Can you get a bachelor' in Gen Ed? Does that mean I can do everything?” Gigi says, mocking Mollie.

“You’ll love her,” Gigi explains. “She picks on me just like you do.”

“I felt the same about Rory when I met her.” I laugh. “I thought, damn, that’s somebody that kicks my brother’s ass as hard as me.”

“It’s out of love. Both of you.”

“What? You mean EJ?”

“I mean you guys being assholes to EJ,” she explains. “You both love him so much. It just comes out… weird.”

“You think?” I challenge, meeting her gaze over the goblet of my glass as I finish it off.

“I know. People show love in weird ways. For Rory, it’s a middle finger. For EJ, it’s acts of service. I think.”

We start making our way out of the restaurant and are walking through the alleyway leading to the parking lot. “How does it work for you?” I ask, watching her face. “Do you need, like, billboards and planes pulling banners to feel love?”

She chuckles, stopping in her tracks. She leans against the brick of the alleyway, letting her head fall back. “Hardly.”

The buzzing in my head continues as I step closer to Gigi. I reach for her, looping a hand around her wrist. She shrugs. I switch gears, putting my hands on either side of her head, palms flat against the brick. “What do you need, then?”I’m prepared to give her exactly as she asks.

She sighs, straightening, and pushing herself closer to me. “Just this,” she whispers. She studies my face, blue eyes floating down to my lips. “I just need—”

As quickly as she’s here, close, she’s gone, moving around where I’ve boxed her in.

I stand there, palms flat, for a second too long, gaping at her.

“Sorry,” she says. “I don’t know what happened.”

I do. You want me just as bad as I want you and you know it, Gigi.

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