Page 29 of Accidentally Yours
“Here?” He circled a finger. “Like you want to brainstorm and write on the train?”
“Yeah,” Paige replied. “The noise and movement open my mind creatively.”
“It doesn’t distract you?”
“Not at all.”
Ethan stared at her, watching the way a loose curl had slipped from behind her ear and brushed against her cheek. “You’re quite the character, Paige Moon.”
She smiled, taking this as a compliment, which it was. “Thanks.”
In the past week, they’d each written a chapter in their manuscript, swapping feedback and tweaking until they were both happy with the start of the story. They were ready to move on to the next few chapters and should use this time to brainstorm and swap notes, but Ethan’s mind kept circling back to other things—
Meeting Paige’s ex.
Hearing about her complicated family dynamics.
And, of course, the now-infamous video of him walking straight into a street sign while supposedly lost in the throes of love.
Because the internet had done what the internet did best—taken his humiliation and catapulted it straight into viral status. The clip had made it onto TMZ. Which, naturally, had Marsha and Kaylor positively giddy. They’d gone into full-throttle marketing mode, getting the book’s pre-order live that same day.
At least something good had come from his head injury—book sales.
Mindlessly, he touched his forehead, which was healing and now only needed a small Band-Aid.
“Are your parents excited to meet me?” Ethan jested, making light of their run in with her ex at the hospital.
Paige winced. “I’m not sure if ‘excited’ is the word.”
“You told them I’m a complete catch, right?”
Paige shot him a flat look. “I tried to keep the information to a minimum. Honestly, I barely got home after our ER visit and my mom was already blowing up my phone. Apparently, Derek told his mom, who told my mom, and my mom was extremely offended that I was having a ‘secret affair’ without her knowledge,” Paige said, using air quotes.
“Isn’t that the definition of secret? Keeping it to yourself?”
“Well, it’s definitely not a secret now,” Paige muttered. “My mom had about five million questions.”
The train slowed to a stop, jolting slightly and pushing Paige closer to Ethan. Her thigh pressed against his, and the sudden warmth gave his pulse a jump. Blinking himself out of the distraction, he said, “Next time, we should watch where we’re going when we’re trying to act like we’re hopelessly in love.”
“It’s not my fault you have a very distracting face,” Paige quipped.
Ethan put a hand to his heart. “Paige Moon, did you just give me a compliment?”
Her cheeks went rosy, and his stomach did that jittery thing again as she tried—and failed—not to smile. Their playful banter was . . . comfortable. Natural, even.
Maybe a little dangerous for his heart.
Ethan cleared his throat. “I think we should set up some guidelines,” he started, catching Paige’s attention. “For us.”
After he got lost in her eyes and sliced open his head, Ethan second-guessed himself. Paige was hisfakegirlfriend. Just because he wanted to kiss her didn’t mean she wanted the same. And he didn’t want to put her in a situation she wasn’t comfortable with.
“Like?” She leaned back in her seat, shifting her computer on her lap, looking curious. Maybe a little intrigued?
“We’re getting to know each other, and I don’t want to cross any lines. We should agree on some rules.”
“Like?” she prompted again.
“Like how we feel about kissing.” Quirking a brow, he gauged her reaction.
