Page 199 of Zero Chance

“What?”I lifted one shoulder, thinking I looked innocent enough to convince her I knew nothing.“Is that, like, a big name in the dragon world or something?”

Brown eyes glittering with delight, she stepped toward me and danced her fingers teasingly up my chest.“You’ve been sneaking into that book series Xander’s making me read, haven’t you?”

I scoffed, fully intending to deny it, but she looked so fucking happy that I’d been curious enough about her recent obsession with a new genre of books I gave up the act pretty much immediately.

Throwing up my hands in annoyance, I shouted, “That dickhole has better lines than me.”

It wasn’t even right, dammit.

Grinning, Waverly looped her arms around my neck and rose onto her toes to nuzzle her nose against my ear as she whispered, “Your jealousy of a fictional character is cute as hell, I hope you know that.”

“Cute?”I pulled back to lift my eyebrows, my expression foreboding.

Waverly’s eyes flared with panic.“Oh, shit,” she breathed, probably remembering how Oaklynn and Faith and basically all of my friends’ girlfriends had warned her about how sensitive I was to being called cute or adorable.“Did I say cute?I didn’t mean cute.”

Instead of pushing her away and getting offended, though, I wrapped my arms around her and tugged her onto the bed with me until she was perched on my lap.

“You did too,” I argued with a husky chuckle as I set my mouth against her throat and began to nibble.“But just so you know, you are the only person I will ever let call me cute because it’s hot as fuck when it comes from your mouth.”

Grinning, she pulled back to clutch my face in her hands and hit me with a breathtaking smile.“I love you, you cute-cute man,” she said with so much emotion that I could actually feel the sentiment blast from her pores and wrap around me in a physical caress.

Groaning, I sank toward her, absolute putty in her arms.“God, I love you too.”Our lips barely touched, just a sweet, drugging brush before she pulled back again to murmur, “And despite the fact there isn’t actually a dragon with that name in any of those books, I love my new dragon too.Thank you.”

“Really?”My eyebrows arched with pleasure.“You like him?”

She nodded.“I love every gift you give me.”

“Well, thank the Lord.”I let out a big sigh of relief.“Because I got you another moving-in present even better than this one.”

“Keene,” she cried in exasperation as I reached under the bed and pulled out a flat, wrapped box.“You really need to stop spoiling me.”

“Sure, sure,” I countered with a wink.“Just as soon as you stop spoilingme.”Because she let me have my way, way more than I deserved.

Heaving out a hassled breath, she gave me a stern look that saidthank youandstopall at the same time.

Ignoring it, I set the box on her lap and prompted, “Open it.”

“But I didn’t get you anything,” she complained even as she reached for the bow.

I shook my head.“I’m not moving in anywhere new.”

Growing a little more eager, she tore into the wrapping paper, then lifted the lid, only to pause at the pink and white gingham cloth that was revealed.

Glancing at me in utter confusion, she said, “What the hellisit?”

“It’s a shepherdess outfit,” I said, unable to contain my excitement as I plucked it from the box for her and held it up with both hands to display it fully.

Her mouth fell open as she gaped in dismay at the slutty Halloween costume.

The dress would barely fall to the tops of her thighs.

To go with the pink and white plaid, it had short, white puffy sleeves, a white form-fitting corset, and a poofy skirt with white lace peeking from the hem, plus crisscrossing strings to make the torso nice and snug.

But that wasn’t all.Oh no.Then there were white, fishnet thigh highs with silky pink bows at the top, some lacy white gloves, a pair of pink Mary Jane shoes, and a pink bonnet with a white sash to tie under her chin that were still sitting in the bottom of the box to complete the look.

Waverly blinked once, then twice before she glanced questioningly at me.“Wha…?”

I couldn’t stop the shit-eating grin I knew was stretched across my face.“A sheep herding costume,” I prompted, lifting my brows.“You know, since you want to be a Swedish goat herder.”

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