Page 35 of How Jenna Became My Dilemma

He caught me staring. I’m lame. So very lame.

Wait.

My heart hammers as I blink at him and his way-too-satisfied smile.

Those words sound awfully familiar.

Cody holds his phone screen in front of me. The text meant for Tawny glares back at me like my own personal scarlet letter of humiliation.

I sent the text to him?

I sent the text to him!

My mouth falls open, but no sound comes out.

His smile goes from smirky to swaggering in the blink of an eye. “I am a good kisser in real life. If you want to practice that tomorrow, we can.”

What short-term-memory superpower allows him to already have the entire text memorized by heart?

“Ha!” I cackle, finally snapping out of stunned silence. “I was just joking with you.”

That smile of his is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. “Are you sure?”

He’s onto me.

I hate him for it.

I will deny this to my grave.

“Mm-hmm. I’m sure.” I nod, but the way Cody leans toward me and how his smile hitches at the corner tells me he’s not buying what I’m selling. “Fine.” My shoulders drop. So much for denying this to my grave. “I meant to send that text to Tawny. She kept harassing me about whether or not we’re finding chemistry here. So I said all of that to get her off my back.”

“To get her off your back?” It’s his turn to nod. “So you didn’t mean it?”

“Didn’t mean it.”

“Okay.”

He stares at me, and it’s like he’s looking into my soul. Is this some kind of chemistry-building exercise? The first to blink fails? I purposely blink because, despite it all, I’m still in control here.

His brows lift. “The script?”

“Right.” My arm shoots up, waving it in front of him. “Here you go.”

Slowly, his fingers brush over mine as he retrieves it from my hand. He must live by the motto the slower, the better because it seems like Cody has only one gear, and it’s called sexy-slow.

“Thanks.” He takes one step like he’s leaving but stops, overcorrecting into my space. “By the way…” His voice is husky and low, building off-the-charts tension in my chest. “I think you’re a beautiful woman, and I’m attracted to you too.”

Those words flatline me. I’m dead. Just order the casket now.

“It’s only fair that you know—just to even the score.” He takes a step back. “Goodnight, Jenna. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.” I incline my head, watching him walk down the hall to his room. Dang, those sexy back muscles. They get me every time.

I close my door, sliding down it until I’m a puddle on the floor.

There’s no chance of sleep now.

Somehow, I lost control of the conversation.

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