Page 58 of Clean Out of Luck

“Owe her a kiss?”I toss the eggshells in the garbage.

“Yeah. I need to understand the details here,” he chuckles. “Did you promise her one?”

“This is yoursisterwe are talking about. Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yeah, never mind, I don’t want too many details. I just need to know: did she kiss you back?”

I turn the mixer on again and stare at the beater as it circles the stainless-steel bowl. “You know, most big brothers would be yelling at me right about now.”

“Yeah, well, I’m no dummy. I know there’s no one else who would love and protect my sister the way you would. I’ve already drawn up your marriage license papers. Just say the word, and you could seal the deal.”

I can’t help but laugh. Of course he would go the complete opposite direction as expected. He’s Phoenix Fernsby. The soon-to-be assistant DA of Serendipity Springs.

“Okay, okay, okay. How about this? You don’t want to kiss and tell, I respect that. But I just have to know if she wants this to go somewhere.”

I finish adding the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and turn the mixer on low to keep the flour from billowing everywhere. “I’m under the distinct impression that she’s in shock. She’s not sure what just happened. And that’s the truth.”

“Okay, here’s the thing. You absolutely cannot tell her how you feel.”

“What? What are you talking about? I just kissed her, man. I can’t just pretend like it didn’t happen.”

“You’re going to have to trust me on this. If you go rushing in there, you’ll spook her. As much as she likes to blame her relationship problems on me, half of it is her fear of commitment.”

Phoenix is right. Ironic that someone who loves routine so much is fearful of commitment. But I think it has more to do with finding someone who’s worth the effort. Because she is happy. No one talks about how hard it is to insinuate yourself in someone’s life who’s already content. She doesn’t need me.

But I want her to want me.

Now it’s just a matter of convincing her that sheshouldwant me.

Because that kiss? It was electric, and I can’t wait to kiss her again.

But what if she doesn’t want to kiss me again? She was stunned tonight. Yes, she kissed me back. Yes, I had a visceral reaction to kissing her. But then she was in shock.

She may never recover from the fact that she kissed the guy who used to put whoopie cushions under her seat at the dinner table.

This isn’t stuff that just gets brushed away. She has yearsof being Scooter to me. This weird transition into attraction has been hard to wrap my brain around.

“Hello, earth to Wade. Your cookies are probably all mixed by now.” Phoenix’s voice snaps me back to the present and I turn off the mixer.

“You might be right. I don’t want to scare her away.”

“No, you don’t,” Phoenix agrees. “And you definitely don’t want to tell her that I approve.”

“Would it be the worst if she knew?”

“Yeah, she’s stubborn enough she wouldn’t give a relationship with you a fair chance. Don’t mention my name.”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I say as I set out baking sheets. “When has keeping secrets from Scarlett been a good idea?”

“That one time when you caught her favorite sweatshirt on fire and replaced it without her knowing?”

“Okay, that was one time. And not a big deal…”

“Then there was the time her favorite goldfish died, and we replaced it.”

“Yes, but she was nine when we did that.”

“Yeah, well, now I’m fessing up that the reason it died was because I overfed it.”

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