Page 36 of One Touch

Her brow furrowed. “Wait, really?”

“You know the word ‘gullible’ isn’t in the dictionary?”

“Oh yeah? Well . . . neither is the word . . . ‘flibajibber.’”

I tried to keep a straight face. I really did.

Fuck, she was pretty when she smiled.

It didn’t take Lily long to unpack. Most likely because she had about two things in that rucksack. While she made herself vaguely at home, I hastily printed out a copy of the contract and grabbed a pen.

I skimmed over it. It was ridiculous. Written in a hurry by a man on the edge. As I heard Lily coming down the stairs, I suddenly panicked and tore off the “Rules for Ethan and Lily” part and shoved it into my pocket.

“Everything okay?” Lily asked, clearly confused as to what I’d been doing.

“Yep. All fine. Good to go. Got the contract here.” I held it up to her.

“You tore something off?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just changed my mind about something.”

She shrugged. “Okay. Shall we go over it together?”

“Sure. You want a coffee?”

She looked at the half-drunk cup of coffee I had set down on the kitchen table, with a jar of instant granules hastily set down beside it. “I thought you were a macchiato drinker.”

I smiled. “Only when you’re making them.”

Shit. I instantly regretted the way I said that. Did it sound corny? Did it sound like I was trying to flirt? Hell,wasI trying to flirt?

She blinked at me for a few moments, then said, “I’ve had too much caffeine already today. Let’s just get down to it, shall we?”

Get down to it. Yes, please.

Oh man, I really needed to find a way to kill these raging hormones.

We settled at the kitchen table, with the contract spread out between us. I cleared my throat, trying to ignore the way my heart raced at her proximity. “Right. So, I’ve listed your duties with Ava and my responsibilities to you. In terms of pay, I’m thinking $500 a week, plus food. I know it’s low, but I figured—”

“It’s very generous,” she said. “That’ll be a huge help with getting my store back on track, too. I can buy some new stock.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re happy with it.”

“And you’re technically giving me a place to live. Ooh, I could Airbnb out my place, maybe. Get some extra cash.”

“Sorry the room isn’t anything special.”

“Honestly, it’s fine. I’m glad to be away from home. Too many annoying memories. You know Vlad actually scratched his name into my shower screen? Who does that?”

She scanned the rest of the document.

“This all seems just fine.” She let out a soft laugh. “Honestly I was expecting something quite a bit . . . weirder!”

“Weirder?”

“Just when you said that we would need some ground rules yesterday. I thought there might some rules like, I don’t know, no kissing or something.” Her cheeks pinkened.

“No kissing? Hmm. I hadn’t thought about that. You want me to add it?”

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