Page 68 of Catch Me
“Something’s up.”
“Yeah, but nothing’s wrong.”
“Don’t tell me you’re studying me to draw later.”
He smiled and the intensity eased. “That’ll be when your face was covered in flour and you looked like you’d been betrayed.”
“I was. Can’t you see I’m madder than a wet hen?”
He snorted a laugh. “You can take the boy out of Texas...”
I crossed my arms stubbornly. “You making fun of me?”
“You started this.”
“That doesn’t sound like me.”
I gave him a taunting look before I tossed the towel onto the counter and returned to the dough. There were no mishaps this time, which made it quick. Roman leaned against the counter the whole time, watching the process. I wasn’t ignorant of the fact that his eyes were mostly on me, but I didn’t know how to interpret that, so I just decided not to.
“It has to rest,” I said.
“What do we do in the meantime?”
“You choose. What’s the best way to pass a couple of hours?”
“Well, we could...” His brows furrowed, then he glanced over my shoulder. “A movie. Wait, you don’t like TV.”
“I’m cool with a movie. It’s just boring if I’m alone.”
“Oh. Yeah, let’s do that.”
I set a timer to remind me the dough existed, then sat on one end of the couch. After I put my feet on the coffee table, I navigated to one of the streaming apps. I had no idea which one was the best, so I chose at random.
“Holler if you see something that looks good.”
“Okay.” He seemed to have sunk back into his shell, but that was better than him being hostile, at least.
“Fair warning, I tend to talk during movies and I have an uncontrollable urge to look up the actors to figure out where I know them from. If we make guesses, we can turn it into a game.”
“Or I could use one of your sharp knives.”
“I thought we were past that. Friends don’t stab friends.”
I felt his stare again, but I ignored it while I scrolled through the list. There were so many movies, and they all looked terrible.
Chapter 23
Roman
“What if you let your hair down?” I suggested.
Jude looked contemplative. “It’s up when I play.”
“Yeah, but you’re not playing. I like the idea of this showcasing you as a person, not just as part of the Braves.” When he still seemed undecided, I motioned toward his hat. “We’ll do one of each.”
“For each pose?”
“Yeah, why not?”
