Page 78 of Zero Chance

Instead, I blurted, “Have you ever played that guess-the-image game where they show you a magnified shot of something?”

Keene frowned in bewilderment.“Huh?”

My face flooded with embarrassment, and I told myself to shut up and just tell himnever mind, but he was watching me with a slight tilt of his head as if he honestly wanted to know where I was going with this, so I kept bumbling along, hoping I didn’t sound as stupid as I felt.

“Yeah,” I said.“So it always looks as if it’s going to be some strange, disgusting picture, like the inside of a sick person’s nostril or something.But then they zoom out, and it ends up being the prettiest flower you’ve ever seen.”

The way Keene was watching me talk made it incredibly hard to breathe.He was captivatingly beautiful, and he was actually listening to what I was saying.

I got a little fixated on the sweep of his eyelashes as he blinked, and I couldn’t help but remember how his hands had felt on me in the dark as he whispered his sweet, sinful desires.

God.And he still smelled the same too.Like sandalwood and cedar.

My head went a little woozy, and my fingers tingled with the need to reach out.

But I drew in a deep breath through my nose and somehow managed to keep talking.“The best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten—but the hardest for me to follow—is that when I get too close to something, and it starts to overwhelm me with negativity, I should take a deep breath, move a step or two—or three—backward, and look at the situation again from a new perspective.Take in the whole picture this time, not just the one, small magnified part of it that’s bothering me.That one spot never looks as ugly or important from a distance.It’s just an insignificant little blip.”

His lips parted as he realized I was trying to give him advice.And as his gaze shifted around my face thoughtfully, I grew spellbound.

For having eyes that were such a muddy, ugly green-brown color, they were honestly the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

Finally, he sniffed and furrowed his brow.“Dammit, Frankie,” he muttered, following the condemnation with a rueful grin.“Don’t give me good advice like that.You’re not supposed to be logical and level-headed when I’m having an unreasonable, emotional moment.”

I blinked dryly.“Then I might never get to be logical and level-headed again.”

With an amused snort, Keene shifted his arm over and nudged it against mine as if we were sharing some kind of inside joke together.“Shut up,” he charged with a rueful grin.“Smart-ass.”Then he pointed.“And I know you totally just diverted the topic away from yourself, but I’m going to let it go this time.”

“Thank you,” I said.

But I couldn’t return his smile.Sometimes just looking at him took me to places that drowned out everything else and left me floating like I was on some chemical high or hormonal overdose.

My psychologist called it a glimmer—these little things that elevated our mood instantly, no matter how bad of a day we might be having.They swamped our brains with joy, peace, and gratitude.And I was supposed to train my brain to come up with one glimmer every morning so more would appear within the day to help beat back dark whispers from the pit.

Which was why Keene was the first thing I thought of when I woke, without fail.

Seeming to sense that things had gone deep between us, his smile settled into an expression of sober appreciation.“Anyway,” he added, his swamp-colored eyes swirling with pensive wonder.“Thank you.Even if I didn’t want to, I needed to hear that.”

I had no idea how to reply.The only words tumbling around in my head were,God, I love you,and there was no way I was going to spill that mortifying confession.I knew I should saysomeexpected platitude, like,You’re welcomeorno problem.But I couldn’t even get that to come.

I’m pretty sure this was the best moment of my entire life.Words would only ruin it.So I nodded mutely.

As if realizing I was having a moment of epic proportions, Keene tipped his face and studied my features with a little more intensity.

My lips parted because I needed oxygen, and his gaze dropped to my mouth.When his eyelids went heavy with languid desire, I felt it in my freaking nipples.Tingling and hardening, they caused my entire chest to heave until I felt it between my legs too.A weighted gnawing dragged on my entire body.I went hot and achy almost immediately.

So when he hesitantly lifted his hand to my face, I drew in a stuttered breath and grew dizzy from the intensity of it.I forgot to breathe as two fingers gently captured a lock of my new bangs between his thumb and index finger.

Slowly, with intoxicating tenderness, he ran his fingers along the tresses, testing their silkiness.

“Yeah, I like the new hair,” he grated out.

When his gaze lifted to mine, we shared a stare hot enough to burn down the entire library around us.

His nostrils flared with awareness.My panties grew damp.

Exhaling from parted lips, he started to lean toward me as if he were going to kiss me.I went absolutely still, too afraid I would startle him away if I moved.

But before he could even shift into the zone that said he was definitely coming in for a kiss, my brother’s voice called from the other side of the counter.

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