Page 67 of The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck

“No idea.”

“I definitely think you should have several of these. You know...for emergencies.”

“What sort of emergency would that be?”

He leans against the wall and crosses his arms. Totally at his ease in this situation. “You wanted to know how I feel about you. I thought it best we discuss it face-to-face.”

“You want to talk about that now?”

“Yes.”

Standing around in silk and lace in front of him has me feeling all sorts of exposed. The ogling doesn’t need to be one-sided, however. He ditched the suit jacket and tie and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. Such man porn. His forearms are a thing of beauty. It’s the couple of buttons undone revealing his throat and a patch of his chest that get me, however. Something about his muscular neck just does it for me. Makes me want to use my tongue and teeth on him.

“You do realize I know you’re thinking about sex when you look at me that way,” he says in a calm voice. “I have a sneaking suspicion you do it more often than you realize.”

My mouth opens. Then it closes again because sometimes saying nothing is best. Take now, for instance.

“If I could have your full attention, please,” he says. “My eyes are up here, so stop staring at my chest.”

I do not blush. “Get on with it.”

“I don’t want there to be any miscommunication between us,” he says. His eyebrows are drawn together just a little. Just enough to let me know he is serious. “Before I address anyone’s feelings, let’s cover the basics. I can’t make the press leave you alone, and you don’t want to deal with them, which is fair enough. Those dickheads are a nightmare. Being famous is a part of my life I can’t control. But us being friends we can attempt to keep secret so that aspect of my life isn’t disrupting your life any more than necessary.”

“You’re not a disruption, Ali.”

“Kind of you to say so. As for my feelings for you?”

“Yes?”

“They’re exceptionally warm and friendly.” He takes a deep breath and steps closer instead. Because of course he does. “And sometimes, like now, they’re a lot more.”

“You’re talking about feelings in your pants region.”

“Yes, I am,” he agrees. “But you do know you’re safe with me, don’t you? I would never deliberately hurt you. You know that, right?”

I nod.

“As for this situation here... You tried to tap out. Said you didn’t want to shop anymore. What’s that about?”

“You had Carolina tell on me?”

“Why else do you think I’ve been sitting out there for the last hour?”

“Guess I thought you were guarding your card,” I say. “I can’t believe she snitched. And she seemed like such a nice person.”

“She works on commission. What do you expect?”

“Valid point.”

“Do you think Julia Roberts would walk out before seeing everything? Just give up after only an hour and go home?” he asks with mock outrage. “Is that really the sort of quitter mentality you’re embracing? What happened to being bold?”

“I may only need a few days’ worth of clothing.”

This time his scowl is real. “I’m going to do you a favor and pretend you didn’t say that. There will be no mention of bullshit predictions when you’re meant to be having fun. Am I understood?”

“So bossy. You’re very lucky it works for you. But I think you’re underestimating how much of your money I’ve already spent.”

He shakes his head slowly. Never ever has someone been so disappointed. I am officially the worst. “And you threatened to do my credit card some damage. What a liar you are, Leannan.”

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