Page 88 of Crazy In Love
“Exactly! Way more exciting. So who is dating who? Who’s pregnant? Prom’s coming up, right? Got a date yet?”
She rolls her eyes. “Notmyprom. And none of the senior guys are likely to ask me. My friend Ericka has a new boyfriend, though.” Eyes alight, she leans closer to tell a secret. “He goes to school in the next town over, since anyone with class wouldn’t dare date a Plainview boy.”
“Obviously.” I flutter my lashes and nibble on the edge of my cookie. “Is he nice to her? Is he a decent person?”
“Yeah, I really think so. A lot of the girls my age are thirsting for the bad boy thing right now. You know, the guys who skip school and smoke and talk back to the teachers to feel tough?”
“I was never into those types. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion seems like a waste of effort.”
“Exactly! Fight for what you believe in and all that, but being a douchebag just to sound cool is dumb. This guy, though, Everett? He seems alright. He makes my friend happy.”
“And what about you?” The shop doorbell rings again, drawing my lazy attention. That is, until my eyes lock on to the devastatingly handsome Christian Watkins. Then my laziness dissipates, and in its place is an odd fluttering in my belly and my hand coming up and brushing my hair back.
Dammit. I want to feel pretty when he walks into a room.
“What about me? Am I dating someone?” Raya doesn’t notice our newcomer. Or maybe she just doesn’t care. “Everett has a friend, Cal, and he’s pretty nice. He comes to Plainview whenever Everett does, and since Everett’s busy making starry eyes at Ericka, that usually leaves time for me and Cal to hang out. He’s interested, I guess.”
Chris meanders toward the pastry fridge, his thick legs wrapped in jeans I swear were made just for him, his hands resting on his hips, and his broad chest showcased in a black shirt, the same shape and fit as basically every other shirt he owns.
He looks freshly showered with damp hair and a glinting smile, but when Raya selects another cookie, I drag my attention away from him and back to her.
“I’m not sure I wanna get into something with him, though, since he doesn’t live in Plainview, and maybe Ericka and Everett won’t work out.”
“You don’t think you can be with him, even if they’re not?”
She shrugs. “Just not sure I want to invest in something I’m onlymehabout, since I’ll be heading to New York in a year and a bit, anyway. If we don’t work out, what was the point, ya know? And if we do, it’ll make leaving even harder.”
“I mean…”Damn.She poses an excellent question, so I take a bite of my cookie and ponder. “The point was the experience, I suppose. Even if you don’t work out. Being treated well by a nice guy is something you should know, even if it’s only short-term. If you break up, you’ve got that under your belt, something to dissect and learn from as you grow older. Once you hit New York, your world will get a hell of a lot bigger, which means the long list of viable male options will explode. Dating this dude could be a safer, more controlled situation where you’re still at home, still surrounded by what you know, and since he’s that other guy’s friend, it kinda provides credibility. Dating in New York won’t come with a lot of the safety nets you currently have in place.”
“Well…” She stares over the top of her cookie, her lovely blue eyes glittering with amusement. “Maybe when I get there, I can look you up. We can hang out sometimes, andifI meet some dude, I can run him by you.Youcan be my safety net.”
“Oh, great!” I choke out a nervous laugh. “No pressure at all! That’s a helluva responsibility to lob on a woman who hasn’t even got her own life under control.”
“Ladies.” Unable to help himself, Chris sidles up on Raya’s left and smirks when her eyes grow wide and her heart skitters, visible in her throat.Okay, so maybe she does care that he’s here.Arrogant, he slides his eyes across and stops on me. “Ms. Tatum.”
I pick up the cookie plate and offer. “Christian. How’s it going?”
“It’s going.” He peruses his options—though every single cookie is the same—then pinching one between his fingers, he winks for the staring girl. “You make these, Raya?”
“Uh… um…” She swallows, nodding a little too doggy-on-the-dashboard style. “I-I did. I made them.”
He takes a bite and chews long enough to test each flavor on his tongue. It’s slow and drawn out, unintentionally torturous for the girl who has a crush on a full-grown man.
Myfull-grown man, dammit.
“Delicious.” He grins. “You did good.”
She drops her gaze, hiding her blazing cheeks, and folds her fingers together. Good lord, the poor girl is a mess. “Thank you.”
“I was actually coming to see you, Fox.” He’s oblivious to his teenageadmirer. Blind to her fiery blush and shallow breathing. Instead, he searches my face with a long, caressing sweep of his eyes. “Alana wanted us to discuss bookstore plans this afternoon.”Lie, lie, lie!“She and Tommy and the kids are going out, but she wanted to make sure I didn’t forget about this.”
“Yeah?” I toss the last of my cookie onto my tongue. “What kind of stuff,specifically?”
From adoring to irritated, he grunts. “Just…stuff. You’re busy right now, but I’ll come back and?—”
“Oh, nah. I’m done.” Like her three-inch soles turn to springs, Raya bounces away from the counter. “I have homework anyway. But I’ll see you in the morning, okay, Fox? At the bakery.”
“Sure.” I finger-wave and watch her go. Then, I bring my attention back to Chris. “You’re terrible at on-the-spot lying.”
