Page 30 of The Fangirl and the Playboy

“Are you going to say yes?” she asks before taking a huge bite of her croissant and moaning with pleasure.

I shrug. “I think so. I mean, we agreed to be friends, and friends hang out, right? Plus we didn’t get to do much catching up during dinner last night with Trace staring daggers at him the whole time.”

“Your brother is very protective of the people he cares about. It’s one of the reasons I love him so much,” she says once she’s swallowed her bite and washed it down with some coffee.

“But there should be a limit,” I counter, “especially whereadultsisters are concerned.”

“Ah, but you weren’t an adult when you got down and dirty with Gavin Reese,” she teases.

“We didn’t get down and dirty, and you know it,” I say, feeling my face heat.

Because I wanted to. Tried to, in fact. But he was too honorable to give in to our combined desires.

Fuck.He was honorable, wasn’t he? How did I ever assume he’d cheated on me like that?

“Are you sure you only want to be friends with him?” Keegan asks, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes.

“What?” I ask, snapping out of my internal monologue. “Yes, of course.Friendsis good.”

“I don’t know,” she says thoughtfully. “I swear I saw a few sparks going off between you two last night.”

I shake my head. “Too much history there.”

“But you said he explained everything, and that whole thing with Julia wasn’t true, right?” she asks as if that’s our only obstacle.

“I can’t risk my heart again, Keegan. Especially when he’ll be leaving soon, heading back to his real life.”

“Who says he has to leave? Look at me. I didn’t live here, but Trace gave me a damn good reason to stay.”

“That’s different,” I argue. “You didn’t have anything to go back to.”

I stiffen as the words pass my lips, shooting Keegan an apologetic smile, which she waves off.

“It’s true. I didn’t have anyone or anything waiting for me back in Seattle, and I had every reason to stay. But Willow, what will you miss out on if you don’t even give Gavin a chance to make that choice, himself?”

“I don’t know. But we were kids back then, Keegan. Who knows if we’ll even like each other now that we’re adults? I think this conversation is a little premature.”

She holds up her palms and blows out a long breath. “I’m just saying to keep an open mind. Don’t lock yourself into the mindset that it can’t be anything more than friendship, and just let things progress naturally. Trace and I would’ve been saved a lot of heartache if we hadn’t restricted ourselves with stupid rules and fabricated boundaries.”

“I’ll think about it,” I promise, and I’m not lying.

Keegan is right. I don’t have to jump headfirst into something romantic or sexual with Gavin, but I also don’t have to stick to the polar opposite and refuse to entertain that something could spark between us.

I can do what I did the first time around. Be his friend. Get to know him again. And if things progress? Well, I’ll make a game-time decision on how far to let them go.

“Yay,” Keegan cheers, wiggling in her seat. Then she lets out a dramatic sigh. “My best friend and Lucas Lumin…who would’ve thought?”

I shake my head at her and dig into my own sandwich. She’s a card-carrying CursedCub––a mega-fan of the Cursed franchise––and she’ll probably always see Gavin as “Lucas Lumin.” But I know him as just Gavin, the boy who made me fall in love for the first time and also taught me the pain of heartbreak…however unintentionally.

And now it’s time to change the subject.

“So,” I say, drawing out the word, “what was with you trying to get under my brother’s skin last night?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she says.

She’s trying to keep her expression blank, but the sparkle in her eyes is undeniable.

“All that business with the pictures, you calling him Wolf Daddy in front of Gavin… Any of that ringing a bell?”

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