Page 11 of Puck & Make Up

But all of that is here and gone in a second.

Furious, passionate woman is replaced with an icy, steel-covered mask.

God, I hate when she does that.

“Pray tell me,” she says with a roll of her eyes, “how can I prove it to you?”

Smirking, I step a little closer, edging into the bright, citrus scent of her, the heat of her body, the need I feel when I’m close to her. “You really want to know?”

Her mouth hitches up into a sarcastic smile that has heat edging towards my dick. “Yeah, big shot.” Her eyes cut south and then back up to mine, derision in their chocolate depths. “I’m positively desperate to know.”

I bend, having to do it a long way because she’s so much smaller than me, but not stopping until my lips are nearly at her ear.

My beard brushes against her hair.

My nose fills with her scent.

“Meet me at Maggie’s”—the only halfway nice restaurant in town—“tomorrow. Seven o’clock.”

She jerks and I straighten, mouth falling open. “What the fuck, Fox?”

I shrug again. “Thenyou can prove it to me.”

And with her mouth gaping open, I check on the cookies, set a timer on my phone, and head out onto the porch.

Then I proceed with doing something I’ve become incredibly comfortable and familiar with over the last months.

Avoiding Dessie.

Even as I track her coming out a few minutes behind me.

Even at I watch her sipping her beer.

Even as I strain to hear what Bailey says that makes her laugh.

Even as…she’s the first to the plate of hot cookies when I bring them out.

Four

Dessie

Iwipe down the bar, gaze cutting to the side, keeping a wary eye on the entrance of Monroe’s.

My uncle’s bar.

It’s comfortable. It’s home. It’s…a great place to go and forget about the shitshow my life has turned into.

And really, my uncle needs me to manage it.

Monroe’s is a lot for him to run on his own, and I have plenty of time on my hands and?—

“You’re not supposed to be working tonight,” he says, his tone taking on an edge I don’t love.

It means he’s on to me…

And my avoidance.

“Stockroom needed a refresh,” I mutter.

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