Page 80 of The Fallacy of True Love
Snorting, she picked up her utensils and dug into her rice bowl. “I’m not letting you trick me into doing your tatt.”
That hadn’t crossed my mind, but now that she’d mentioned it, it stuck. I’d always known I wanted to get ink someday, but I’d never given much thought to who I’d get it from.
Now, there was only one person whose art I wanted on my skin.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cam
If someone told me yesterday that Alonzo would witness me getting worked up over an encounter with a bunch of girls and that I would not only eat with him but also let him stay the night in my crappy rental…well, I would have told them they were certifiable.
Yet here I was, walking out of the minuscule stained shower to the sight of Alonzo reading a thick textbook?—
Wearing glasses.
He glanced up at me, and I almost dropped my towel.
“You wear glasses?” I asked like an idiot.
“Yeah, when I’m studying.” Shifting in the plastic chair, he adjusted his black frames. “Do I look like a nerd?”
No. He looked like Clark freaking Kent, but make him Filipino. Despite the fact that academic guys had never been my type, I was unable to look away from the one sitting in front of me.
Normal Alonzo was hot enough. Him in glasses?
Fuck. Me.
I pressed my lips together, fearing that the words would slip out of my mouth.
He chuckled wryly. “I guess that’s a yes.”
“You don’t look like a nerd,” I mumbled, tightening my chokehold on my towel.
“No?” He raised his eyebrows, and damn if I wasn’t overly aware of the fact that I was naked beneath the terry cloth fabric. His lips spread wide, like he could sense my discomfort.
I rolled my eyes. “Can you turn around while I dress? There’s no space in the bathroom.”
He did as I asked, and I scrambled to get my clothes on. My sando top was worn out from years of use, but I wasn’t about to wear a bra to sleep. Thankfully, Alonzo waited until I was in bed and under the thin sheet to turn back around.
“Let me switch the light off,” he said as he stood up.
“Don’t you need to study?”
“Yeah, but you need to sleep. I have a study guide on my phone anyway. I can use that.”
“And ruin your eyesight even more?” I scoffed. “Just turn the light in the bathroom on and keep the door open. That way, you can turn the ceiling lamp off and still have some light.”
“Good idea. Thanks.”
As he puttered around, I closed my eyes and tried to forget that I was alone in a room with Filipino Clark Kent. Soon, the sounds of pages flipping mingled with the whirring of the fan. It should have been enough to lull me to sleep, especially since I’d barely slept on the ride to the city.
Instead, all I could think about was Alonzo spending hours in a chair that was barely meant for prolonged sitting, let alone sleeping.
I shouldn’t have cared. He was the one who’d insisted on camping out there for the night. But more uncomfortable than the bedspring poking the bottom right side of my rib was knowing just how much he’d done for me today. All without asking for anything in return.
“Get on the bed,” I said before I could think twice about it.
“What changed your mind?” Alonzo asked.
