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She gripped her coffee cup with both hands, looking down at her bloodless fingers, nerves pulsing through her. “I don’t know.”
“Hey,” he said, his tone cajoling her to look up. “I promise you’re safe with me. I’m not going to make fun of you. I’m not going to tell you you’re doing it wrong. If it doesn’t work, I’m not going to blame you.” He smiled. “And I swear, this isn’t some ploy to get alone time withtheMiz Poppy.”
Her lips parted in surprise.
“I mean, Ididtell you I loved her.”
Her.Like Miz Poppy was a different person.
“I wouldn’t think that. I know what you meant.” He meantnotHollyn. He loved the image of Miz Poppy like everyone else, not the reality.
“Classes will be a pressure-free zone. Just one friend teaching another.” He shrugged. “And if, in return, you can give my show an honest review, I’d be forever indebted.”
The look he was giving her was so openly earnest that she couldn’t look away. Take one-on-one classes with a guy she was hopelessly attracted to and embarrass herself trying to do improv in front of him? This sounded like the worst plan in the history of the universe.
But he was right. She didn’t want to lose her job. What could it hurt to try?
If nothing else, she’d just had a full conversation with him. Jasper had somehow, without her knowing it, moved from the stranger zone to a person she could talk to without a panic attack. That was a precious thing in her world.
Shewantedfriends at work. With Andi and now Jasper, she would have two people she could talk to.
She inhaled deeply and tried to quiet the screaming banshee in her head. “Okay. I’ll…give it a try. But I reserve the right to back out at any time. And I’m not promising you a great review. An honest review will behonest.”
Jasper’s face lit up, and he lifted a fist in victory. “Fantastic. You made the right call, Hollyn Darling. This is going to be so much fun.”
“This is going to be absolute torture,” she replied, deadpan.
He laughed and then nodded at her plate. “Hush that negativity and eat your cinnamon roll. We’ve got plans to make, my friend.”
My friend.
That sounded…kind of amazing.
She vowed then and there that this was what Jasper would be. She could ogle him because…hello, she was human and had hormones and hadn’t been touched by hands other than her own in a really,reallylong time, but she needed to stop thinking about him as someone she was attracted to. That only amped up her nerves and made her tics worse, anyway. She needed to take that layer out of play. He wasn’t interested in her like that, and she could use a friend more than she needed an unrequited crush. She had been through enough of those already.
As if on cue, Rodrigo, the former marine turned fitness vlogger sidled up to the coffee bar. Hollyn had admired him from afar since her first day there and had kept a steady crush simmering on her mental back burner. Where Jasper wasartsy hot, Rodrigo went straight for theobvious hotcategory. Good-looking in that way that wouldn’t go unnoticed by anyone with a pulse. Dark hair and eyes. Light-brown skin. Body built for combat.. He smiled her way and gave her a nod of greeting. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She gave a quick smile and then concentrated on the cinnamon roll like it held the answers to the universe.
She caught Jasper giving her a curious look in her periphery, but then he shifted his attention to Rodrigo. “What can I get you, man?”
Rodrigo made his order, and Jasper struck up an easy conversation with the guy, making him laugh like they were old friends. God, if he could teach her five percent of that, she’d be good to go.
Maybe he could.
It was abigmaybe.
Jasper finished up with Rodrigo and waited until the guy left before moving back down the counter to Hollyn. He cocked his head in the direction Rodrigo had walked. “What’s that guy do for a living? Get paid for selfies?”
She snorted. “Pretty much.”
Jasper chuckled. “Don’t blame him. If I looked like that, I’d cash in, too.”
She wanted to tell Jasper that she’d buy his selfie any day. But she kept her mouth shut. Friends didn’t tell other friends that.
“So is that what happens for you with anyone you don’t know?” he asked.
“What?”
