Page 55 of The Sweet Spot

I probably should’ve seen this coming. We’ve been messing around for far too long—of course he’s noticed the shift. Giving him one last squeeze, I step away. “Come in for a sec. It’s cold out here.”

Inside, I drop my shoes and purse on the ground and lean against the door. “I met him at the boardwalk a long time ago. Saira and I hung out with him and your brother and their friends.”

“I knew you’d met Kellan, but I just didn’t realize…” He pauses, wrinkling his brow. “I wonder why Kell never mentioned it?”

“Like I said, it was ages ago.” I shrug. “And we only met a couple times.”

“I don’t know. It felt like there was something between you two tonight.”

My heart skips, and I hesitate, not wanting to say the wrong thing. “If there is, it’s not much. I haven’t seen him in over a year.”

“Safe to say Luca’s interested, Wren,” he says, lifting his eyebrows. “He spent half the night with you and the other half trying to be.”

“That’s not true.” I laugh, shaking my head. “I spent most the night with you, dumbass.”

“Hey, if you want to hook up with him, go for it. I’m not gonna stop you.” His words are lighthearted, but there’s an antagonistic gleam in his eye I’ve never seen before.

“What, you’re giving me permission now?” I narrow my eyes at him. “Gee thanks, Dallas.”

“I’m saying I get it if you wanna stop fucking around.” He exhales roughly, yanking his hands through his hair. “I’ll do anything for you, Wren, you know that, but I don’t do relationships. I’m not trying to hold you down.”

I fold my arms, stomach in knots. Nothing he’s saying is a surprise except for how shitty it feels to hear it. It’s hard keeping emotions completely out of fooling around. “You’re right. You’ve always been clear about what you want. And don’t want.”

Dallas squints at me. “But what do you want?”

I look down at my bare feet. The cheap nail polish I put on this afternoon is already chipping.

“I don’t know what I want.”

“Be honest with me.”

“Fine.” I take a long, slow breath. “I am attracted to Luca, okay? Is that what you want to hear?”

“Not really, but I get it.” He nods slowly. “So, I guess that’s it.”

“Notit. I still want you in my life, just…I don’t know. I’d feel weird being into two people.”

“Aw, babe.” He pooches his lips into an exaggerated pout. “You’re into me?”

I punch his arm. “Shut up, Dallas.”

“I’m being serious,” he says, laughing.

“I wouldn’t have fooled around with you if I wasn’t into you, doofus,” I say, rolling my eyes.

That sobers him up, and he nods, clearing his throat. “Yeah, I hear you. I’m into you, too. You and this tight body,” he says, squeezing my hips.

It’s hard to tell if he’s being his usual irreverent self or if he’s just trying to soften the blow, but I don’t bite. “You know I adore you, right? We’ll still hang out?”

“Ugh, God, please…not theI still want to be friendsspeech.”

“I do still want to be friends.” I ruffle his hair. “Don’t you?”

Dallas kisses my forehead. “Of course, I do. We were friends first.”

“Good, because I don’t want things to be weird.”

“They won’t be weird if we don’t make them weird.” He turns, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. “Listen, don’t take this wrong, but you might want to take it easy with Luca. Hejustbroke up with his girl.”

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