Page 62 of Heat Clinic

Sam leans against his bike, and he’s holding his helmet in one hand and a giant boxed cookie cake in the other. He grins when he sees me in my ratty band tee with holes and faded pajama bottoms with tiny penguins on them. He looks at me like I’m the most beautiful woman in the world, and it makes my pulse race.

“How did you drive your bike here with that?” The cookie cake is at least a foot in diameter.

“Carefully. I am a master of balance. Read it.”

My brow wrinkles as I try to make out the icing writing. “Wanna puck?” It’s hard to tell because the icing is written in cursive, and some of it’s been smeared.

“The people at the cookie place weren’t very amused by my request. And it turns out red icing stains, so swiping some of it off doesn’t really work either.”

He shows me his red stained finger, and I see where it looks like he tried to turn the P into an F. I burst out laughing, then kiss him.What a dork.

I take the cookie cake from him and we head inside. For the rest of the night, I’m not nervous at all.

ChapterFifteen

EMILY

“Good morning, luv.”Tom leans down and kisses me as Marcus grabs my bags and hauls them to the car. If Marcus and Tom find it odd that Sam is with me at six in the morning instead of at his place, they say nothing.

I’m still not really certain how this pack thing works. Is there a schedule? Do I go down the line? Are we all supposed to be there? What if someone is out of town? It’s one more thing to stress about.

By some miracle, Marcus manages to play car tetris and fits both of our overstuffed bags into his already very full trunk. It’s impressive. Both in that Tom can pack so much for what they said was his two-week stint abroad, and that the trunk fits everything and still latches.

Sam leans into the front of the car through the open window. “Wow! It’s so fucking cool. I’ve never seen one up close. Is this the XS or the XL model?”

“Touring,” Marcus says as he puts my smaller car bag into the back seat. The back middle seat is the safest place according to crash test dummy experiments, he explains, and that’s my designated seat. Tom wasn’t kidding. I’m surprised there’s no roll of bubble wrap waiting for me.

“Can I drive?” Sam asks.

Marcus snaps upright so fast he hits his head on the doorframe with athunkthat makes me cringe. “Not today.”

“Fine. But someday, right? Hey, Tom, can I ride in the front?”

“Of course. If that’s okay with Emily,” Tom says.

Am I in charge of the seating assignment? “Yeah, that’s fine.” I hand my fluffiest pillow to Marcus, who puts it in the back for me. I fully intend to read, but car rides put me to sleep.

“Excellent,” Tom says, sounding a little too pleased to be giving up the coveted front passenger seat. “Shall we?”

“Uh-huh.” I narrow my eyes at him, but he only smiles wider. Somehow I feel like he’s outmaneuvered us and we’ve already lost—and I didn’t even know we were playing.

“Is that everything?” Marcus asks as he scans the sidewalk for more bags, as if the car could possibly fit anything else.

“Yeah, I think so.” I tuck my hair behind my ear and take one last look at my apartment.

Tom and Sam both climb into their seats as Marcus cups my face and pulls me in for a kiss before he watches me get into the car and buckle my seatbelt. It’s only when it’s clicked that he shuts my door and gets into the driver’s seat.

“Do you have enough leg room?” Marcus asks as he presses the ignition button and the dash lights up. The car is sleek and modern, and its engine doesn’t rumble to life so much as purr.

My eyebrows climb my forehead because it’s like he’s forgotten how short I am compared to the rest of them. “Yeah, plenty of room.”

As if that was what he was waiting for, he plugs our destination into the computer in the dash and the car drives itself while Sam oohs and aahs over it, and Marcus gives him a tour of the car’s features while he keeps one eye on the road.

I wedge my pillow between me and the door and dig my book out of my bag. Tom appears content to watch the scenery through the window as we get onto the highway and merge into traffic. The car ride is smooth, and despite how early it is and how tired I am since Sam kept merelaxeduntil late last night, my book’s able to keep my attention and I finally get past the first ten pages. There’s music on low while Marcus and Sam bond over their love of cars, and it makes me happy to eavesdrop on their conversation until my book absorbs my full attention.

The heroine and her love interest have just discovered Mr. Pemberton’s body in the secret tunnel connecting the manor’s bedrooms when Tom’s hand lands on my thigh and rests there with a comforting weight.

I peek at him from over my pages. He’s still looking out the window and watching the scenery. I go back to reading for a few more moments. My plucky heroine and her scandalous rake have decided to investigate and solve the murder themselves.

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