“Because I’m incredibly hot and a great dancer?” He gave me a grin, but I recognized it now as the one he saved especially for me, and my heart did a very traitorous thing in my chest. I busied myself cleaning the blender.
“Come on, you need to get out of this town.”
I nearly dropped the glass blender lid as my hand shook, and the blood drained from my face. I saw the smile fall off his face out of the corner of my eye.
“Look…I want you to come, all right? I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise. A perfect gentleman.”
I shook my head.
Get a hold of yourself, Torres.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” I said.
A shadow of his smile returned.
“Oh, I don’t know, I can be pretty charming when I want.”
He reached across the counter and took my hand, which was still shaking. It stilled in his warm, steady grip, the calluses along his fingers from hundreds of hours on a board circling over my knuckles. He raised my hand to his lips, leaving a soft, chaste kiss. He peered up at me with those big, dark eyes, and for one moment I could almost believe him.
“I’ll pick you up at nine. DM me your address.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Selena
He was early.
Of course he was early. I was still upstairs in a towel when Lupe knocked on my door like she was trying to break it down.
“Your friend is here.”
The way she saidfriendhad about six syllables in it.
“Tell him to wait.”
“I already gave him food.”
I dropped my head against the closet door.
“I like him,” Lupe said.
“You’ve known him for four minutes.”
“Three. And I like him.”
I pulled on my dress, a yellow floral one, which I’d told myself I was wearing because it was comfortable and not because it showed off my shoulders. My charged-up magic and Lupe’s cooking had turned his bite into just a shadow in a few hours, but I knew he could still see it. I wanted to see his eyes go dark when he did. I did a quick version of my hair before going downstairs, lingering in the stairway.
I peeked around the corner.
Chase was at the kitchen counter.
He’d taken the stool at the end, the one that faced the stove,and he was leaning forward with his forearms on the counter, shoveling food into his face. He wore a dark linen shirt that offset his bleached blonde hair, his neck tattoos peeking out above the collar. His sleeves were pushed up, revealing his tan, veined forearms. He looked absolutely stunning. Lupe was at the stove with her back to me, talking about a mile a minute.
“—this is my version. I added the dried ancho because my abuela always said the smoke should be in the ingredient?—”
“Not added after.” Chase nodded. “That’s exactly it. I couldn’t figure out what made it special, but that’s it.”
Lupe turned around, wiping her cheeks, trying to hide her blush. At least it wasn’t just me he had that effect on.
