Page 82 of Clean Out of Luck

Scarlett’s eyes go wide. “Thank goodness for that.” She shoves a chip full of salsa into her mouth. I’m impressed she got it to fit.

“Yes, well, you’ll have to talk to him?—”

“I moff finx ill,” she mumbles around the chip.

“I didn’t catch that,” I tease even though my heart is racing a mile a minute. I know I’m going to be in trouble when she finds out Phoenix has been in on everything.

“I don’t think I’m going to say anything to Phoenix,” she says as she rests her elbows on the table.

“What?” That wasn’t what I expected her to say.

“He’s going to throw a fit when he finds out, and honestly I’m having too much fun with you to let him spoil it just yet.”

There’s something in her words that gives me pause. “Is it because you don’t think we’ll last?”

My teeth grind as I wait for her answer.

“I don’t know the future,” she hedges.

I level a serious glare at her. “Are you in this or not?”

“Dammit Wade. Of course I’m in it. I’m in it for you and with you! I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t think we could be something together.”

“Something more than a phase…right?” I hold her gaze.

“Wade. You are many things to me, but a phase is not one of them. You. Know. Me. I’ve thought this through. It’s not that I want to hide you from my brother because I don’t think we’ll last. I just am having so much fun without having to explain myself. I don’t want to spend our first few weeks of dating arguing with my brother. Because it’s an argument Ihave to win, and knowing him, he’ll be furious that we’re dating.”

“But what if he isn’t?”

Scarlett blinks slowly then throws her head back and laughs.

She laughs long enough I start to worry about her. When she finally gets a hold of herself, she’s gasping for air.

“When has Phoenix ever been happy about me dating someone?” she asks when she finally stops laughing.

“I mean, I understand what you’re saying…but maybe he’d be happy?—”

She bumps the cup of horchata and it spills on the table and splashes on the front of her shirt. “Oh dang it, I shouldn’t have been laughing so hard.”

I’m secretly relieved because I was about to tell her that Phoenix knows about us.

I grab a stack of napkins, standing up to help try and mop up the mess.

Scarlett’s eyes are watering, she’s laughing so hard. “I’ll go get some paper towels out of the bathroom.”

She stands up to leave as I clean up the mess.

By the time she gets back, I can’t bring myself to tell her anything about Phoenix and how he knows. She’s right. We should enjoy this time.

Scarlett’s grinning ear to ear as she sits down across from me again. “Do you know how nice it is to be able to laugh with you when something embarrassing happens?”

I reach across the table and grasp her hand. “Do you know how contagious your laugh is?”

She blushes and rests her free hand on top of mine.

We sit there smiling like fools for a few minutes before I ask, “Want to see the new calendar for Station 7?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

---