Page 136 of Debugging Love

I set up shop on my kitchen table, open my laptop and plug it in even though I have no idea what to work on. I already coded my modules. Heng coded his. All that’s left is un-coding and re-coding Chance’s, which he already started doing. At least there’s that. A small olive branch.

I amsomad.

So, somad.

I am not at all desirous of Chance’s lips, or his strong muscles, or his black cowboy hat. Or that luxurious bass voice. My body quakes just thinking about it.

No.I’m focusing. A little more unit testing will do the trick.

I pull up BrainyJ and send my code through my automated tests. I’ve already done this. Twice. Third time’s the charm, I guess. Maybe I can break some code first to make it more interesting.

A knock on the door challenges my commitment to not think about Chance. I didn’t order anything from Amazon, so I know it’s him. I can do one of two things. Ignore Chance. Or ignore Chance.

I’m ignoring Chance.

He knocks again.

I continue ignoring. Until he knocks again.

Fine.

I let my unit tests run while I slink to the door. I don’t know why. I just feel slinky. No surprise, it’s Chance, and he looks like a scolded puppy.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” I manage to squeak out.

“Danni...”

That’s it. That’s all it takes. I grab his neck and pull him inside. Our lips meet as we fumble with the door, kicking it shut behind us. Chance presses me against it for leverage, his body pinning me in place.

As his fingers trail down my arms, I claw at his hair, pull him closer as we deepen the kiss. He rests for a moment, breathes me in while I run my hands down his back, his muscles tensing under my touch. He moans, a low noise in the back of his throat. I’m the first woman to affect him like this.

We break apart, both of us gasping. Without a word, Chance takes my hand and leads me towards the couch. After we sinkinto the cushions, he cups my face in his hands, rubs his thumbs along my cheeks, leans in and delivers a soft kiss, teasing my mouth open with his tongue.

He pulls me closer, his solid muscles supporting mine. The thud of his heartbeat vibrates my chest, matches my own dizzying pulse.

But then Chance pulls back, his breathing ragged. He looks into my eyes, and I can see longing there. But I also see restraint. Neither of us are ready to go further. Chance needs to take it slow. We both do.

I press my forehead against his. We stay like this for a moment, our breaths mingling, before slowly pulling away.

“Does this mean you aren’t mad?” Chance asks with a grin.

I pull him back for another kiss. “Oh, I am sooo mad.”

“I like it when you’re mad.”

We trade smiles. His looks delicious.

“Show me,” I say.

His eyes dart around the room, searching for the thing I’ve demanded to see.

“Open up Visual Studio Code and show me what you did.”

“I can delete it all and redo it.”

“I don’t know if we have time for that.”

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