Page 40 of Better Than the Movies
“Thank you.” I opened his messages and looked at what Michael had sent.
Michael: So did you talk Liz into coming?
“Holy crap—he asked if I’m coming!” I turned down the volume on the radio and said to Wes, “Does that mean he’s hoping yes?”
“Since he’s textingme,” he muttered, giving me side-eye and a jaw flex, “I’m going to go with no.”
“He might.” I didn’t like that answer. “You don’t know.”
“Sounds like he’s just taking a head count, Liz.” He looked over at me and pointed to his phone. “Want to answer him?”
“Seriously?”
He gave a shrug. “Why not?”
I inhaled. “Um, okay. Uh…”
“You’re pathetic.” Wes turned down a wooded street. “I think a solid answer would be ‘Yep,’ don’t you?”
I said the words out loud as I texted. “Yep. We are almost there.”
Send.
I was about to set the phone in Wes’s cupholder when it buzzed in my hands.
Michael: Sweet. I’ll put in a good word for you.
Wes (me): Awesome, dude. I glanced over at Wes, thenadded: Btw, I love your hair. You have to tell me what product you use in it.
I bit my lip to hold in the smile.
Michael: You’re joking, right?
I glanced at Wes again before quickly adding: Dead serious. You’re my hair hero. See you in a few.
I put the phone in the cupholder and gave Wes a full smile when he pulled in front of a house and looked my way.
“This is it,” he said as he put it in park, his eyes going up to my hair before returning to my face. “Ready?”
“As a heart attack.”
“You know that’s not right, right?”
“Yeah.” Sometimes I forgot that not everyone was in my head. “I like mixed metaphors.”
The side of his mouth hitched up. “How very rebellious of you, Elizabeth.”
I just rolled my eyes and got out of his car.
We didn’t even go up to front door. I followed Wes as he walked around the house and opened the fence gate.
But he stopped short of going into the yard, causing me to run into his back.
“God, Wes.” I felt ridiculously awkward as I rammed my breasts into his back. “What’re you doing?”
He turned around and looked down at me, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips. There was something about his smile, the way it not only showed off perfect teeth but also made his dark eyes fun and twinkly, that made it impossible not to smile back. “I just wantto remind you that Michael thinks I’m trying to make ground with you. So if he doesn’t seem into you, don’t take it personally. He’s a good guy, so he’s probably going to keep his distance until he knows we’re not a thing. Cool?”
I didn’t know if it was the slight breeze that was doing it or the fact that he was so close, but his masculine cologne (or deodorant—he’d never answered my question) kept finding my nose and making it really happy. I inhaled again and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Are you trying to reassure me?”
