Page 40 of Just a Heartbeat Away

“I’m such a fucking idiot,” he told Tyler.

Tyler turned the volume down on the movie. “Yes. Absolutely. What are we talking about?”

Seb wagged his phone through the air. “You should just take this away from me. I’m so not good at digital crap with women. I swear. Me texting is the same thing as your skinny jeans phase. You’re just like, dude,no. Can’t pull it off.”

Tyler laughed. “To be fair, I think I could have rocked the skinny jeans if they hadn’t been quite so...skinny.”

“Pretty sure you’re missing the point.”

They both laughed again and Tyler rolled his head to look at Seb. “Are you texting or sexting?”

“Sexting?” Seb tried to pick his jaw up off the floor. “You think I’d sit next to you on the couch and sext some woman, you perv?”

Tyler shrugged. “I’ve sexted a woman while I was sitting next to you before. It’s only weird if you make it weird.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. That’s ALWAYS weird, Ty.” He side-eyed his friend. “No, I’m not sexting. I’m just texting. But I accidentally made it flirty when it shouldn’t be.”

“Accidentally?” Now Tyler was side-eyeing him right back. “There is no accidental flirting. It might not have been in the plan. But if you’re flirting, it’s because you want to be.”

“Bah.” Seb glared at his phone and considered turning it off completely. “All this shit is just way too complicated. I’m just going to turn it off—ohchristshetextedback.”

Seb ignored Tyler’s laughter and opened up her text. He stared at it for a hot second before he let out a very surprised chuckle. She’d sent back a GIF of a ninety-year-old man doing quite a seductive striptease. He had a white beard down to his belt, and he helicoptered his shirt around his head.

He showed Tyler, and both men laughed again at the GIF. “If you don’t want it to be flirty,” Tyler told him, “just text her whatever you’d text me if I sent you that.”

It was good advice. Seb thought for a second and typed out his response.

Well played.

Damn. Still seemed kind of flirty.

VIAHUMMEDTOherself as she cut up fruit for a fruit salad. The coffee was taking forever to brew this morning, but it didn’t matter. She was in a good mood. Energized, even.

She jumped a foot in the air when Fin’s phone vibrated on the countertop next to her. Jeez. Maybe she should have half a cup instead of her usual full. She was a little on edge.

“Fin! Your phone’s blowing up!”

“Who is it?” Fin called back from the bathroom.

Via flipped over the phone and checked the display. She blinked and set it down, taking a step away. Her hand felt tingly where she’d touched the phone. For some reason, her stomach was clenching. “It’s a text from Sebastian Dorner.”

Apparently, he’d made use of the contact information Via had forked over. She glared at the coffeepot. Seriously, what the hell was taking it so long? She contemplated leaving her coffee maker on the curb and going to buy some ridiculously expensive chrome contraption from Sur La Table.

Yeah right. Via had had to psych herself up for three solid weeks to buy herself a pair of fifty-dollar gold studs. There was no way she was blowing half a G on a coffee maker. She talked herself off the ledge.

“So, you’ve been texting each other?” Via called, slicing the melon on her cutting board just a tiny bit more forcefully than she usually did.

“A little. Will you read it out loud?” Fin called back.

Via sighed. “Can’t you take a bath at your place?”

At least twice a week, Via woke up in the morning to find her best friend luxuriating in her tub.

“You know my bathtub leaks. Read the text!”

Via gritted her teeth and unlocked Fin’s phone, her heart softening. Fin used the same pin code as she did. 1885. Their address at Jetty’s house. It wasn’t fair to be snippy with Fin just because she was getting texts from Sebastian. There was absolutely no reason to get weird.

“He says, ‘Serafine, I’m so, so sorry to text this close to when we’re supposed to meet, but my son came down with strep yesterday. I’m not comfortable leaving him until he’s feeling better. Can we reschedule?’” Via set the phone down and kept carefully cutting melon. So, apparently they’d made breakfast plans together. “That’s true, by the way. He had to race Matty to the doctor straight from softball yesterday.”

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