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I was about to convince myself to eat my cake then head to bed, but instead, I carry our plates to the coffee table, and he settles down beside me on the sofa.

I can feel his thigh press into mine as he leans forward to pick up his cake. As he begins to eat, I swear that his Thunder Mountain Man smell is mingling with the sweet scent of the chocolate.

He laughs at something on the screen, and I realize the episode has started, but I’m barely watching it. Instead, I’m noting how his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. How that stupid lock of hair keeps falling into his eyes and how the tips of his eyelashes are blond and much longer than I ever realized.

There’s a lot about him I never realized.

As I lift the last piece of cake to my mouth, I miss it completely and shovel it into the side of my face.

I set my plate down and search for something to wipe the glob of icing clinging to my lower lip but instead of finding a napkin, I draw Mackenzie’s attention.

“You’ve got a little something…” His thumb swipes at the icing at the same time I try to lick it from my lip, and instead I lick him.

“Sorry.” He laughs as he pulls his hand away. “That one’s on me.”

His eyes are on my lips and then my tongue as it darts from my mouth a second time, this time finding the chocolate.

His face is inches from mine, yet he doesn’t pull back or away.

For one terrifying moment, I wonder if he’s about to kiss me. Until another, even more terrifying thought follows: I wouldn’t be mad if he did.

So when he doesn’t lean away, I don’t either.

Chocolate frosting is coursing through my veins, giving me a sugar rush that clouds my common sense.

He closes his eyes, and so I close mine, too, knowing that if I lean a little more forward, his lips will be right there. I can smell the chocolate on his breath and something else, too.

“Sauerkraut,” I whisper as the connection clicks.

My eyes fly open. His do as well, a fraction after mine.

“It’s sauerkraut. Isn’t it? The secret ingredient in the cake?”

“Yeah.” He leans away. “You got it.”

Externally, I nod. Internally, I kick myself. Mackenzie leans back in his seat, turning away from me and our almost kiss.

I follow, breathing slowly and painlessly through my nostrils to calm my frantic heart, and try my best to seem totally cool with this situation.

We watch the rest of the episode in silence. I’m not sure either one of us moves at all. When it’s over, he gets to his feet.

“It’s probably a good time for me to head to bed.”

I want to ask him what happened to the sugar high that was supposed to keep him up for at least another episode, but instead, I stand as well. “Yeah, me too.”

I turn off all of the lights in the kitchen. When I reach my bedroom door, there’s a creak in the hardwood near his room.

“Night, Annalise,” he calls across the dark. “Sleep tight, okay?”

“You too,” I call and head into my room.

14

I don’t sleep tight.

Instead, I toss and turn, twisting my bedsheets into one giant knot. I must fall asleep eventually, because when I open my eyes again, it’s almost nine, and there’s a pounding coming from somewhere in the apartment. I jump out of bed and run straight out of my room, reaching the living room at the same time as Mackenzie.

Shirtless Mackenzie.