Page 60 of I Just Want to be Yours

“Bet on what?”

She appraises me with a playful upturn of her lips. “How much you like onions.”

“What do you want?” I love seeing this spark in her when she tries to challenge me.

Margot tilts her head, her long, red hair falling to the side. “If I win . . .” She looks around the pizza shop like inspiration might be hiding in the parmesan. “You have to show me the lyrics you’ve been writing.”

My body stiffens, but I try to shake it off. “What lyrics?”

She gapes at me, and I know I’m caught. “Jackson, you always have that notebook with your guitar. You’d bring it to practices, to shows, and you never left it behind unattended.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Because you would have snooped if I had, wouldn’t you?”

Her grin broadens, and I smile at the unabashed way she confirms I’m right. “I just want to see,” she says, softening. “I’m sure they’re great.”

There are two very good reasons why I haven’t shared my half-baked ideas with her.

They’re terrible and most of them I haven’t even shown Dave because they suck.

Almost all of them are me confessing my feelings for her, and I figure I should probably tell her I love her before she figures it out from a shitty line I wrote.

By the way her smile widens, I’d say Margot knows she has me backed into a fucking corner. My mouth has gone dry, so I clear my throat. “And if I win?”

“You pick. That’s sort of the idea.”

Her snarky tone snaps me from my panic, and I lean back in my chair. If there’s one thing that will make Margot sweat, it’s breaking the rules. “If I win, we’re going skinny dipping.”

She tenses. “Where?”

I shrug. “I’m pretty sure our hotel has a pool somewhere.” When we checked in earlier, I was a little too busy trying to rush us into the room to look around and notice, but I think I remember seeing something about it when I booked a few weeks ago.

Her eyes narrow, and I wonder if she’ll scold me for coming up with such an idea. Instead, she reaches her hand across the table. “Fine.”

Leaning forward, I extend my own hand. “Then it’s a deal, Red.”

Her delicate fingers wrap around mine, and that familiar pulse of electricity shoots through me. I thought it would havegone away by now, or at least faded. But if anything, I think it’s grown.

“I can’t believe we spent all that time looking for a cash box that wasn’t actually lost,” Margot says with a laugh as she pulls her hand away.

I blink, coming back to reality. “Yeah. Well, that’s Mya for you.” I shake my head, regretting my statement. “I shouldn’t say that. She’s usually on top of her shit.”

“I really like her.”

This makes me look at her more seriously. “Yeah?”

Margot nods. “You were right. I didn’t think you would be, but you were.”

Our pizza arrives and the corner of my mouth kicks up as I put a slice on a plate for her. “I’m right about a lot of things.”

“Some things,” she corrects.

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