Page 344 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
Chapter Ten
Flint
I’ll be honest. Thelaughing isn’t doing much for my ego.
Audrey practically has tears coursing down her cheeks.
I sit patiently while she presses a hand to her stomach, actual guffaws coming out of her mouth. I mean, I realize I might not be her type, but is it really such a ridiculous thought?
Audrey sniffs and sits up a little taller. “I’m sorry,” she says. “That was—” She wipes her eyes. “I promise I’m not laughing at you.”
I chuckle lightly. “Thanks for the reassurance.”
“Flint, I’m serious. I’m just—do you honestly think anyone in the world would believe you’re dating someone like me?” She holds out her hands and looks down at her sweats.
Not that it’s the only thing that matters—and Hollywood is full of attractive people, so I’m speaking from plenty of experience here—but does she not realize how beautiful she is?
I almost tell her Iwoulddate someone like her and that should be evidence enough, but I don’t want to scare her off, so I stick with something simpler. “Audrey, I don’t know what you’rebasing your opinion on, but you’re beautiful. I can’t imagine why anyone would question.”
She scoffs. “I’m not—”
She doesn’t finish the sentence, but I can fill in the blank well enough.
“Flint, I’m a scientist.”
“I know.”
“I haven’t worn makeup in years.”
“I know a few women who would kill for skin that looks that good bare.”
Her cheeks flush, and she lifts her hands to cover them. She shakes her head, like she thinks I’m feeding her a line.
“Flint, it’s a terrible idea,” she finally says. “I’m not girlfriend material. Definitely notmovie stargirlfriend material.”
She wouldn’t be the first woman to assume I need a woman with special qualifications just because of my career, but she’s wrong. Not that it actually matters, because it wouldn’t be real in the first place.
“But are youfakemovie star girlfriend material?” I joke.
She rolls her eyes. “What does that even mean?” She leans back and pulls her legs up to her chest, sitting like she was when our conversation first started. It almost seems like she’s trying to make herself smaller.
This was a terrible idea. I’ve clearly made her uncomfortable. If just having the conversation is enough to do that, there’s no way she’d ever agree to everything this would involve.
“Audrey, I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I’m realizing now this was a bad idea. This is not a problem for anyone else to solve. I’ll just—” I push off my knees and stand. “I’ll figure it out, all right? Forget I asked.”
Before I can step away from the couch, she reaches out and grabs my arm, her fingers circling around my wrist. “Wait,” she says. She slides her hand down to mine and I instinctively wrapmy fingers around hers and let her tug me back onto the couch, this time sitting a little closer to her than I was before. “Just walk me through it. What all would this involve?”
A surge of hope pushes through me, but I still hesitate. If she’s going to shut me down—and all signs point to her doing just that—this will be the moment it happens.
“It really is okay if you say no,” I say, giving her fingers a reassuring squeeze.
She squeezes mine right back then slips her hand out of my grip. “I know,” she says. “But at least let me know what I’m saying no to.”
Here goes nothing.
“Okay, at first, it would just be a photo. The two of us together, but nothing that shows your face. I’ll post the photo on Instagram, hinting heavily that I’m seeing someone new, maybe hint that it’s someone I used to know growing up.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
