Page 25 of Feel the Heat

Lili looked down to find one of her fists full of Jack’s tee. Wonder when that happened.

“Oh, sorry.” She slackened her grasp but her fingers refused to open all the way.

Cara hammered again. “Jack, if you don’t open up, I’m calling 9-1-1.”

Lili reluctantly loosened her hold on the bull’s eye covering his chest and the Kilroy DNA she’d taken a fancy to.

Rubbing his maligned pec, Jack dragged himself off the sofa and made a subtle package adjustment. Oh, yeah. He opened the door to admit an agitated Cara and waved her by with a deadpan, “Please. Come in.”

Her sister was dressed in lime green Juicy sweats. Eight a.m. and she looked stunning. “Are you okay?” Cara asked Jack. “I just got Lili’s messages.” Reaching out to cup his jaw, she got in close and personal. A potent surge of emotion waved through Lili, terminating in her brain with one word. Mine.

“It was nothing.” He stepped out of Cara’s grasp and Lili cheered a mental touchdown. “Grazie a Dio,” Cara said. “Well, prepare yourself for a new heap of drama.” She thrust her phone in Jack’s face.

“We’ve seen it,” he said, nodding over to Lili.

Cara’s priceless expression was almost enough to procure Lili’s forgiveness for her manhandling of Jack. Almost.

“Lili! What are you doing here?”

“I stayed to make sure Jack didn’t fall into a coma.”

Cara cast a shrewd look at her star and his gorgeously mussed hair then turned back to Lili and her mushroom cloud helmet. “Did you know you’re trending on Twitter, sis?”

“Christ,” Jack muttered.

Twitter? That sounded…not good. “What does it say?”

“Just something stupid,” Cara said, waving it away to a corner of the room.

Lili stood as quickly as her head daze would allow. “Cara, what is it? Tell me now.”

Her sister flushed, a glow that only made her more beautiful. “Hashtag, Jack and the fat chick. But it’s all one word, so you have to really focus to figure it out.”

The fat chick? Lili buried her massive face in her gargantuan hands. Flashes of teenage wretchedness discharged in her brain, evicting all those happy spark-offs she’d felt moments ago while Jack’s eyes feasted on her. In their stead, long-suppressed images of torment returned to taunt her. Pencils jabbing her fleshy back. Upset books as she walked from her locker to class.

Macaroni salad splattered in her lap—she rarely made it through lunch unaccosted. She had joked with Tad that she should thank Diana Matteo and her clique for helping lower her daily calorie intake. The bully diet.

But as bruising as the physical teasing had been, it couldn’t compare to the jibes and sneers. Lardass Lili. Tubby DeLuca. Lili the elephant. Fat chick was comparatively kind.

A voice called to her, muffled and far away. “Lili, are you okay?”

She blinked to find Jack staring at her. Not so hot and needful now, just compassionate.

Pitying.

“I’m the fat chick?”

“Don’t be daft. You are not fat,” Jack said sternly, sending a scowl Cara’s way in a clear demonstration of shooting the messenger. His phone hummed again. “I need to take this.” He treaded back into the bedroom, answering as he walked.

Cara smiled sympathetically. “Lili, don’t worry about what they’re saying online. Haters gonna hate.” The benevolent grin turned saucy. “Damn, girl. You sure went for it with Jack.”

“Cara, I—”

“Jack’s agent is probably already working on a plan to spin this. We just have to be careful it won’t affect the contract.” Her sister patrolled the doorway, her ponytail swishing furiously behind her. With a graceful pivot borne of ten years in a tutu, she wagged her finger.

“Jack wants me to produce his new show. It’s my big chance and your little spectacle last night better not get in the way.”

Cara had conveniently forgotten this was her dumb idea. Best to ‘fess up. “Don’t worry. Nothing—”

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