Page 60 of Say Yes to the Hot Mess

He looks at me sideways. “You kissed me on the cheek this morning. But fine, no kissing. Any other rules or reminders? Because my Aunt Sylvie is nosy, so she’ll start asking questions any second now, and I’m going to go way over the top with this thing.”

“Just run things by me before you do them,” I say.

He nods. “I can do that.”

“Promise?”

Another nod.

And I almost laugh when not thirty seconds later, Dex’s prediction comes true. The woman across from us—Aunt Sylvie, apparently—leans forward, her cheerful smile growing as her eyes dart back and forth between us.

“Now tell me, Dex, who is this lovely young woman?”

“This,” says Dex, moving his arm higher so that it’s around my shoulders rather than my waist, “is my girlfriend, Maya.” He gives me a little squeeze, and I smile at Sylvie, nodding my greeting.

“Maya,” she repeats, her eyes on me now. “It’s lovely to meet you. My, but you’re a beauty, aren’t you?”

“I—uh, thank you,” I say less than eloquently. “That’s sweet. Thank you.”

“And where did you two meet?” she says. She leans forward a little further, elbows on the table with her chin resting on her clasped hands, looking like the perfect picture of someone waiting to be told a fabulous story.

“Well, we’re neighbors, but Maya actually came into my office one day to talk about some housing issues. We chatted for a bit, and the rest was history. I was smitten immediately. Isn’t that right, sweetie?”

I raise one brow at him.Sweetie?What did we literally just talk about? I didn’t sign off on any nicknames. And judging by the amused glint in Dex’s eyes, the way he rubs his hand over his mouth to hide his smile, he can tell exactly how I feel.

“Sure is, snookums,” I say, giving him a saccharine smile as I immediately begin thinking of all the worst pet names I can find. Then I look back to Dex’s aunt. “One look at him and I was sold.” I sigh, trying to look lovestruck. “My little Sugar Booger sure is a handsome one.”

Dex’s smile, which was genuine until now, suddenly cracks a little. He keeps it in place though, and when he meets my gaze, looking like he’s up to no good, something passes between us. I can almost hear him say it:Challenge accepted.

“Oh, stop it, Honeybuns,” he says, waving my compliment away with what I know to be fake modesty. “You’rethe one who blewmeaway.”

Honeybuns? Really? That’s the best he can do?

“Isn’t my Tootsie-Wootsie so sweet?” I say to Aunt Sylvie, snuggling closer to Dex and abandoning my dignity altogether.

“He sure is,” she says, beaming at us. “It sounds like you two had quite the first encounter.”

“It was really something,” I agree, thinking of the way I stormed into Dex’s office that day, of the way I politely chewed him out and then marched straight into his closet.

Dex looks at me, his eyes meeting mine, and I know he’s probably remembering the same things I am. “It was.” There’s a beat of silence, then, “The second I saw her, I knew she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.”

I swallow, my cheeks heating as Dex wrenches his gaze away. I notice color rising in his face too, so at least I’m not the only one blushing up a storm all of a sudden. But I can’t help it. The way he looked at me, the flush of embarrassment he’s now trying to hide—I think…I think he might have been serious.

For one long second, the room around us disappears. I’m stuck in the memory of when we first met. I had wild hair and no makeup and a stain on my shirt.

“Did you really think that about me?” I find myself asking, and when Dex looks at me, my heart gives a few extra thuds.

“Yeah,” he admits after hesitating for a second. Now that he’s looking at me, I can see his reddened face more clearly—can see the truth in his answer. His expression is casual, but his eyes aren’t; they’re vulnerable and hesitant and I’m drowning in them, completely lost in them even as half a dozen waiters come by and someone sets a plate of generic salad in front of me—

“You guys are super weird.”

It’s Jude, and his loud declaration pulls me away from the bizarre feelings that are buzzing in my chest. I jump at his voice, and I’m grateful for the distraction. I look at him, as does Dex, and I try to hold back my cringe.

Because Jude is right: wearebeing super weird. No one actually talks like this.

I guess I got a little carried away.

“How so?” Dex asks. There’s no indication that we just shared a moment or that he’s feeling anything other than neighborly feelings.

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