Page 77 of Accidentally Amy

Blake

I yanked my shirt off like it actuallywasthe culprit, even though my irritation had nothing to do with the oxford. No, my irritation had to do with my conscience and the fact that I hadto open that fucking email before I could move forward with Izzy.

As blissful as ignorance had been—seriously, it’d been a top-five fucking day—it couldn’t be my excuse.

Especially when Izzy had no idea that everything was likely about to change.

I grabbed a Henley from the closet, pulled it over my head, and as soon as my arms were through the sleeves, I grabbed the phone.

Time to take a look.

I opened the email, dread settling into my stomach. Somehow, I just knew it wasn’t going to be good. I clicked on the attachment, and—

“Can’t,” I muttered through gritted teeth, swiping out of the attachment before I had a chance to see it. I set the phone on my dresser face down and stepped away from it with my hands up like it was a loaded gun.

I knew looking at it was the right thing to do, but the part of me that wanted to fall asleep wrapped around Izzy wouldn’t let me. I was too drunk on her, too lost in every crinkle of her freckled nose, to give up the chance to finish the perfect day with a long, perfect night. It was lazy and selfish—I knew that—yet I wasn’t strong enough to stop myself.

I dragged a hand through my hair before opening the bedroom door and going back out into the living room.

“About time, bro,” Izzy said, and I was surprised to see her standing next to the door, looking down at her phone with her purse over her shoulder like she was waiting around to leave.She didn’t even look up when she said, “I think my grandma with arthritis changes faster than you.”

“Are you…leaving?” I asked, disappointment slamming into me.

“Yeah,” she said, finally looking at me. Her mouth turned up into a smart-ass grin that didn’t reach her eyes, and her nose didn’t crinkle. Still, she teased, “Our elevator workout made me sleepy, so now I must go crash. And the Darkling needs to be fed.”

I let my gaze move all over her, taking in every square inch that I’d hoped to explore. “Didn’t you feed him just before we left?”

“Well, yeah,” she said, absentmindedly rubbing a finger over her lower lip. “But, um, he eats a lot.”

“Ah.” I scrubbed a hand over the top of my hair. Apparently Izzy and I were feeling entirely different about the night.Noted.“Let me go grab my phone, and I’ll take you home.”

I went back in my room and slipped the phone into my pocket, but when I returned to the living room, Izzy was crouched down, petting both of my cats while talking to them in the sweetest voice.

That pinching feeling returned with so much force it nearly brought me to my knees, and I couldn’t stop myself from biting out the words “Holy shit, you are so fucking beautiful.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Izzy

Blake scared the crap out of me, which made me lose my squat and fall onto my backside.

But Lord, the way he’d said it.

Thewayhe’d said it.

He’d said the words through gritted teeth like he meant them so hard. And his intense expression didn’t soften as I smiled at my own klutziness. His mouth was firm, his eyes so fierce that I felt the look from head to toe.

“You mean graceful,” I teased, because I was not equipped to receive incendiary compliments from someone like Blake.

“Wrong,” he said, crossing the room to stand above me. He held out a hand to help me up, and when I let him pull me to my feet, he held on to my hand and didn’t let go. “You are so fucking pretty that I have a hard time not staring. Obsessively. Every second that I’m with you.”

“Phillips,” I said, blinking and hoping I didn’t sound as flustered as I felt, “you just can’t say things like that to me.”

“Why not?” He dropped my hand and ran a knuckle over my cheek, killing me with eye contact as his body seemed to hover in front of me, surrounding me, as his scent snaked around my head and made me hyperaware of his closeness.

My eyes closed of their own volition, and I swayed just the tiniest bit before forcing them open and being too honest. I didn’t know why my voice came out as a whisper when I said, “Because it makes me want to believe it.”

“Believe it, Shay,” he said, his voice quiet as he stepped closer. “Your face is all I’ve thought about since you scalded my chest with your latte.”

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