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“He’s with my mom. I didn’t want to drag him around a bunch of places, you know?” She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Is Holley at the store? I wanted to stop in and say hi.”
“Yeah, she’s there with Tori now. Ivy’s probably at home. I’m surprised they never mentioned it.”
London grinned, looking exactly like Ivy and Holley. “They don’t know. I stayed at Aunt Jasmine’s last night so I wouldn’t have to leave Billings before it got light. I’m going to surprise them. I’m seeing a house over by Ivy’s new place so thought I’d drop in.”
“Oh, awesome. I need to get lunch and get back before Holley kills me, but it was so good to see you.” I smiled, then jolted when a hand touched my elbow. Turning, I saw Dylan and his monster bruise standing there. “Oh. Hey. Have you been running?”
“Yeah. I went to the store to see if you were there and Tori said you’d just left for lunch. I hoped I could catch you.”
“Oh.” I glanced at London who was looking at me with one eyebrow raised and an amused curve of her lips. “Oh, um, Dylan, this is London. She’s Ivy and Holley’s cousin and is moving back here. London, this is Dylan. He’s, um…”
When I said nothing, London said, “He’s what, Saylor?”
Dylan looked down at me. “That’s an excellent question.”
I looked between them. “Why is everyone being mean to me today? I object to this.”
London bit back a laugh. “It’s nice to meet you, Dylan, whoever you are.”
“It’s a pleasure, London, cousin of Ivy and Holley.”
This was ridiculous.
“He’s my roommate,” I said dryly.
“And,” London replied. “Your hesitation gave it away.”
“And you have houses to see and I have food to put in my belly.” I pulled open the café door to the sound of their laughter and shut it right on the sound of their goodbyes. It was warm and loud in here, and I shivered as I pulled my coat off.
“Bad day?” Dylan asked, sidling up next to me.
“My friends are jerks,” I said, staring at the front counter. “They think it’s hilarious what happened since Holley saw you this morning.”
“Ah. I didn’t tell her how it happened, for what it’s worth. And it would be worse if you hadn’t looked after me.” He smiled down at me, something I saw out of the corner of my eye. “Hey, it was an accident. Don’t beat yourself up.”
“No, but it looks like I’m beating you up.”
“So do what you do best and turn the narrative into something you can control.”
That wasn’t a bad idea.
“Hello, you two!” Johanna said when we got to the counter. “What can I—oh my, Dylan! What happened to your face?”
He winked at me. “I got in her way when she was throwing her book at a wall.”
Johanna looked at me, her lips pulled into a small smile. “Some things never change.”
Boom. Just like that, it was done.
Seriously, though. Why was he so fucking perfect?
We both placed our order and made our way to an empty table with our drinks. We had a small, two-person table in the corner, and I sat on my coat.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did,” Dylan replied playfully.
“You know what I mean.”
“Anything, Pinky.”
I leaned forward on the table, looked him in the eye, and said, “What’s wrong with you?”
His brows drew together in a slight frown. “What do you mean?”
“What’s wrong with you?” I repeated. “You’re tall. You’re handsome. You’re British. You can cook. You created a new story just then only so I wouldn’t be embarrassed by what happened yesterday. You didn’t kiss me because I wasn’t totally sober. You wouldn’t let me go home from a bar by myself even though I would have been fine in a cab. You were going to ignore your own feelings just to respect mine. Heck, you were helping me talk to other guys.” I paused. “So what’s wrong with you? Are you prone to ingrown toenails? Do you pick your nose and eat it?”
His lips twitched in such a manner that I knew he was trying desperately not to laugh. “I am not perfect, Saylor. I’m human just as much as everyone else.”
“Then can you do something wrong to show the rest of us that?”
Dylan looked down and laughed, then rubbed his nose. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed. It was an accident. Eventually everyone will find out, but if we tell everyone another story about how it happened, it’s fun for us.”
That was true.
“You already know why I didn’t kiss you, so I don’t need to explain that again. No, I wasn’t going to let you go home from a bar by yourself.” He reached over and took my hand, turning it over and rubbing his thumb against my palm. “I wouldn’t let any woman go home alone without ensuring their safety the best way I could. And you have to understand that me keeping my feelings to myself was literally just that; out of respect for you. I knew that, at the time, you only wanted to be friends. I wasn’t going to make things hard for you by telling you something that you really didn’t need to know. Everything I do is ultimately because I care about you, okay?”
