Page 42 of Puck & Make Up

“Nope.” I step back and fist pump. “That Fox Brown charm is finally growing on you.”

“Like a fungus,” she quips.

I chuckle then take the bags from her hands, gripping them in one of mine, and all but herding her into the garage.

No escaping. Not now.

“What have you got in these, anyway?” I tease. “Bricks?”

A glance down shows her flush spreading. “Um, no,” she whispers. “I just?—”

When she doesn’t go on, I open the door to the house and usher her into my mud room. “You justwhat, sugar lips?”

Her eyes meet mine for a heartbeat. “Well, I thought”—the pink turns to bright red—“I just…you’ve been helping me with my whole thing.” She waves her hand.

I lift my brows in question.

“Helping me figure out my next steps,” she explains. “And bringing me dinner and coffee and cookies and I just…”

I close the door, draw us down the hall while I wait for her to answer, setting the bags on the kitchen counter.

“Well, I just thought maybe I could cook for you, and we could…” She takes a deep breath and reaches into one of the totes. “Well, I thought I could return the favor by cooking you chicken parmesan before we watch this.”

She pulls her hand out with a flourish…

And everything inside me freezes.

Twelve

Dessie

“How do you know about that?” he rasps and the nerves in my stomach ramp up.

There’s a fucking tornado happening inside me, and I struggle to keep my expression placid, to not turn and haul ass out of his house.

This is…

Well, this is the biggest step I’ve taken since?—

Jett.

“Fuck, sugar,” he growls, and I jump, nearly bolt.

But before I can so much as skitter back a step, his big arms are wrapping around me and he’s hauling me against his chest in a tight hug that squeezes every bit of fear out of my body.

“How’d you know?” he asks.

“About the food or the movie?” I manage to push out, my lungs protesting.

This is terrifying and yet…I know that I’m not leaving.

Maybe my picker is still broken, maybe I’ll get hurt in the end, maybe this will all go wrong…

But I don’t think so.

Fox is…

Well, I’ve never felt like this before.

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