Page 108 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
“Probably. But he won’t because they are.”
“You’re not making this easier, Mic. He knows about what went down with Miranda, and he’s not going to—”
“Come on, give him some credit. Chad is smart enough to know that wasn’t your fault.”
Fischer clenches his jaw, shaking his head. “Maybe. But that doesn’t change the fact that my name is tainted. I never should have agreed to—”
I cover his mouth, narrowing my eyes. “I’m not letting you back out of this, Fischer Bradley. With or without your name, I need you with me. Besides, people love me too much, so my name will outshine yours until your curse is completely gone.”
He doesn’t seem to have an argument for that one, even if his expression is still full of concern. “Maybe you’re right. But maybe it would be a good idea for me to wait until things are more certain before I give your family any ideas about how much you’re willing to keep me around. What if you change your mind?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”
I wiggle myself free and hop onto the kitchen counter so I’m closer to eye level with him as I sit on the edge. My face heats with the hungry look in his eyes—I’ve spent a lot of time on this perfectly positioned countertop over the last week, and I know exactly what he’s thinking—but I don’t have a lot of time to convey how desperately I want Fischer and Chad to meet.
“My brother means so much to me.” I place my hands on his cheeks. “And you mean so much to me. Chad is an anchor in my life, and you keep me grounded, and there is nothing I want more than to have you two meet and get along. I’m determined to keep you both in my life, whether or not I start up a company. Don’t ruin this dream for me.”
He narrows his eyes, but he’s not frustrated enough to keep himself from turning his head and placing a kiss on my palm. “You are more manipulative than you look,” he murmurs, taking hold of my arm and kissing my wrist. “I want to meet Chad. I’m just telling you I’m nervous he won’t think I’m good enough for you because I’m not.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I tug him forward and lock my mouth onto his. He deepens the kiss immediately, hands snaking around my waist over the thin fabric that makes up my trapeze costume, and for a second I forget that I’ve got a party to get to as his thumbs dig into my stomach while he claims all my attention with his kiss. I thought our first kisses were good, but apparently he’s been holding back all week because this is beyond delicious.
“Are you trying to distract me?” I breathe when he starts trailing kisses along my jaw toward my neck. I can barely get the words out.
“Is it working?”
Yes. “No.”
“Liar.” He finds my mouth again.
My phone buzzes on the counter behind me and finally pulls me back to reality. Though Fischer growls—that nearly convinces me to go back to kissing him—I pick up my phone and read the text I just got.
Kit: I need you to make sure Houston doesn’t try to get out of wearing his costume all night. A bet’s a bet, and he had better not think he can get out of paying up.
I giggle and type back a reply.
Me: What did you end up choosing as the loser costumes?
Knowing Kit, it won’t be anything tame. His friendship with Houston started a year and a half ago at our family reunion when Houston challenged him at the ball toss at the fair, and they’ve been coming up with bets ever since. Neither one of them pulls punches when it comes to whoever loses.
Kit: You’ll just have to wait and see. I got a picture from him, and it’s spectacular. But I need to know he won’t change now that I’ve seen it, so you’re in charge of sending regular updates.
“And you wonder why I’m afraid of your family,” Fischer mutters. He’s smiling, though, as he stretches his arm around my shoulder to make it easier to read my texts with me. “I’m so glad I ended up on Kit’s team for trivia night.”
Memories of that night—anticipating a goodnight kiss—fill me with so much warmth that I turn and press my lips against Fischer’s cheek. “You’re lucky Kit and Skyler are competitive because you did nothing to help our team win. In fact, you did the opposite because you kept distracting me.”
“I regret nothing.”
I send a quick text to Kit, telling him that I’ll make sure Houston holds up his end of the bet, and then I slip from the countertop. “Ready?” I ask Fischer.
“As I’ll ever be.”
By the time Fischer pulls up in front of Chad’s house, his anxiety has filtered over to me as well. What if Chad doesn’t like him? Would the scandal of Fischer’s old company really be enough to convince Chad that Fischer and I shouldn’t be together? It won’t change the way I feel, but I would hate for anyone to not welcome Fischer into the family because of a dumb misunderstanding.
“I’m more than happy to sit in the car the rest of the night if that’s what you want to do,” Fischer says gently. “Even if it’s delaying the inevitable.”
“Well, that’s just dumb.” I slip out of the car before I can chicken out, glad when Fischer joins me and tucks my arm through his. “Chad is going to love you.”
But when Chad opens his door looking like he’s had the worst week of his life, I’m not nearly as convinced as I was a second ago. Despite his job making him work strange hours and stay up late doing stakeouts, he’s never looked this tired or this worn.
