Page 59 of Romeo

Ma Belle: The flirting

Me: You noticed.

Ma Belle: It’s hard not to

Me: Good.

I stared at that last exchange, the phone resting loosely in my hand. She’d noticed. More importantly, she hadn’t asked me to stop. That didn’t mean I got to decide where this went. It didn’t mean she was ready. But it meant she knew I wasn’t pretending this was nothing anymore.

That was enough for tonight. I set the phone on the nightstand and leaned back against the headboard. The curse could tell me she was mine until the day I died. Fiona still had to choose me.

And if I wanted that choice to mean anything, I had to give her room to make it.

CHAPTER TEN

Fiona

The afternoon shift at Sugar’s Creamery was slow, the kind of slow that made every minute stretch like taffy. I wiped down the counter for the third time in twenty minutes, my phone sitting face-up beside the register. I’d looked at it at least six times—which was ridiculous considering it hadn’t made a sound.

The flowers were at home on the counter, their petals still perfect, the deep green ribbon tied around the stems exactly the shade I’d described to Jasper. It had only taken him three days to turn a handful of random answers into something I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I’d seen the card. He’d admitted sending them. Still, somehow knowing that hadn’t made anything easier.

Sugar emerged from the back room carrying a fresh tub of mint chocolate chip. She glanced at me, then my phone, then back at me with that look she’d perfected over the last few weeks.

“You’re thinking too hard again,” she said.

“I’m not…”

“You are.” She slid the tub into the freezer case and closed the glass door. “Whatever it is, just ask him.”

“Ask him what?”

“Whatever question is eating you alive.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but she was already disappearing into the back again.

I looked at my phone. What exactly was I supposed to ask? Why did you send me flowers? What do you want from me? Are you flirting with me because you actually want me, or are you just really, really good at this?

That last one sounded a little desperate even inside my own head.

My fingers moved anyway.

Me: New question.

His response came almost immediately.

Jasper: I’m ready.

Of course he was. Jasper always seemed ready for whatever I threw at him, while I spent half my time wondering what the hell I was doing.

I took a breath and typed before I could lose my nerve.

Me: What’s the first thing you notice about a woman?

The three dots appeared, disappeared, then appeared again.

Jasper: Depends on the woman.