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“And now you want a kangaroo?”
“And now I want a kangaroo,” he agreed.
“Do you think maybe you should make sure you’re not going to wind up in jail, first?”
“Now I’ve got you in my corner. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.”
I folded my arms and leaned back, giving him the stink eye. “Tell me something, and don’t you dare lie.”
He held up his palms. “Scout’s honor.”
“You can’t use Scout’s honor if you weren’t a scout.”
“I know. I was an Eagle Scout.” He flashed some weird series of hand gestures that I guessed was supposed to prove he wasn’t lying. “I could tell you which mushrooms are edible and I can start a fire with a rock. I can even sew on your buttons if they fall off.”
I stared. “For some reason, none of that even surprises me.”
He smirked. “You had a question?”
I hesitated. It was the only thing I hadn’t asked him earlier, and I was more than a little afraid of the answer. “Did you only get to know me to help land the job?”
“Believe it or not, that was a happy coincidence. I didn’t even know you were going to interview me. Er,” he winced. “Okay, that part is a fib. I kind of pulled a little magic to make sure you were the one who interviewed me, but that was only because I wanted to talk to you. I rigged that part up after I met you. Honestly, I could’ve landed the job easier with the other guy. Adrian wrote me a whole file on him.”
“You promise?”
He made his scout gesture again.
I smiled, shaking my head. “Can you really start a fire?”
He reached across the table to run a fingertip along the back of my hand, then wiggled his eyebrows at me. “You tell me, baby.”
I laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
We went ice skating after lunch, which Travis was unexpectedly bad at. He nearly split his head two times and probably would’ve if I hadn’t kept him upright. None of that stopped him from enjoying himself like a lunatic and grabbing my ass every chance he got.
It also didn’t stop him from mortifying me when they played “Better Together” by Jack Johnson and Travis insisted on taking me to the center of the rink to do a fumbling approximation of a slow dance while everyone shot us amused side-eyes.
We followed ice skating with a trip to a swap meet that was set up outside and took up almost a whole half block. Travis was endlessly fascinated by everything. He left with a hub cap that was hand cut to look like a lollipop, a pair of tall black boots with metal spikes he wanted to give Adrian as a gag gift, a dildo with a well-known politician’s head at the top, and a very large bag of marbles.
“I don’t know what you’re planning with that,” I said when he bought the dildo. But if you come near me with it, I’m tossing it out the window.”
“It’s almost two pounds,” he said, giving it a concerning wiggle. “I think you’d be committing the first aerial dildo assassination in New York history if you chucked it out the window.”
“You realize they’re going to ask to see that at the airport, right?”
“Probably.” He gave it a look. “I just thought it was cool.”
“I’m starting to feel less flattered that you like me now that I see how easy it is to catch your eye.”
“Hey,” he said, dropping his bag of random crap on the ground with a clatter. He pulled me in by both ass cheeks, pressing us together in the middle of the street. New Yorkers seemed to effortlessly move around obstructions in foot traffic like water. “You didn’t just catch my eye. You caught my heart. And I’d trade all of my collection just to have another hour with you.”
On a whim, I reached for his hand behind his back and found his fingers crossed. I laughed in disbelief. “Crossed fingers? Seriously?” I asked. “What are you, two?”
He gave me a cheeky grin. “Okay, I like my collection. But I would pick you over my collection if it came down to it. The hour part was just supposed to be romantic.”
I chewed my lip. “And you think some cheesy line is going to make me feel better? I caught your heart, did I?”
“I’m serious. The plan was to give you a little of the patented Rosenthal charm, then maybe a romp in the sheets, and then move on. You weren’t supposed to make me want to stick around. In other words, you caught my heart and are refusing to give it back.”
“Oh,” I said, trying to ignore the flutters and heat his words were making swirl in my stomach. “If you want it back, all you have to do is ask.”
