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He pulled out my chair at the round table and I settled in, enjoying the view. Scott lived alone in Park City, in an incredible apartment with huge windows overlooking the city lights. He left me for a moment to serve the food. I couldn’t stop overanalyzing.Get a grip. Stop reading into everything.
“Bon appétit,” he said, emerging with two plates of delicious noodles and cream sauce. I had to suck the saliva back into my mouth. Sexy.
He set down my plate and sat next to me, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. I twirled the pasta around my fork, trying my best to appear ladylike. But the noodles slipped out on the way to my mouth, and I looked like a lizard slurping up a snack. “Sorry!” I laughed with my hand over my mouth. My eyes went wide. “This is amazing. Marta taught you well.”
Scott chuckled. “Thank you. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Don’t worry about slurping, it’s supposed to be complimentary in Asian cultures.”
“Perfect. I’ll fit right in when I take a trip to Japan.” I smiled and slurped my noodles extra loud.
He smiled with such warmth in his eyes, I felt knots tangle deep in my stomach. Something had changed in him. I started envisioning evenings where Scott cooked dinner after I came home from teaching dance. Of course, in these daydreams, he was shirtless. Time to change the subject.
“How was work today?” I asked. This way, he could answer my question and I could keep eating.
“Good. Nothing out of the ordinary. Ethan was snide, as usual. He thinks I’m trying to usurp his position in his family. It’s not my fault that his father promoted me.” He shrugged. “He’ll figure it out. I’ve just got to be the bigger person.”
“I love that about you. I don’t think I’d handle it as well as you do. I’m ready to go toilet paper his car tonight, if you’re game.”
He threw his head back in laughter. “You say that, Ivy, but you’d never hurt a fly.”
I shrugged. “I’ve got your back. I don’t want anyone messing with you.”
“I feel the same way about you.” The mood shifted suddenly. He set down his fork and rested his clasped hands on the table. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
This was it. The moment I had been hoping for. Or dreading. Scott was so hard to read sometimes.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Amy,” he began. “And I think you might be right. That she deserves an apology.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe . . . maybe Lucas isn’t so bad for her after all.”
“I agree,” I said, my heart sinking a little. Was this it? This was all he wanted to talk about? I was embarrassed for imagining there was something romantic between us. At least I hadn’t said anything specific to tip him off.
“And I have an idea for how to show her I’m sincere,” he continued.
“Oh? What’s that?” I asked, taking a large bite of noodles.
“If we tell her about us.”
I started choking on my food. It was so bad, Scott had reach around the table to hit my back and wait for me to take a sip of water while he patiently watched me with a smile on his face.
“I didn’t expect you to have such a violent reaction,” he joked.
“In what universe is it a good idea to tell her about us?” I asked.
“Are you going all Star Wars on me again?”
I rolled my eyes and leaned my elbows on the table. “StarTrek. Star Wars never had multiple universes.” I pointed a finger at him. “Don’t change the subject.”
“Excuse me,” he said, putting his hands up in the air, his eyes alight with laughter.
“How are you okay with this?” I asked. “You’re trying to mend your relationship with your sister by telling her you’ve been secretly hanging out with her best friend?”
The laughter left his eyes, replaced with something a little more tender. “Well, that’s just it,” he said. He slowly reached his hand over and placed it on top of mine. It felt right, like it belonged there. “Maybe to you we’ve just been hanging out, but for me . . .” He looked me straight in the eyes. “I’m falling for you, Ivy.”
I blinked a few times, trying to process. Wait . . . so he did like me? Maybe Iwasreading all the signals correctly. On one hand, it made sense, with all the flirting going on between us. But I didn’t know if it was a surface attraction or something more.
He cleared his throat and tentatively pulled his hand away. “Or maybe it really is just me . . .”
“No!” I exclaimed, reaching for his hand. “It’s not. I’ve had a mad crush on you since I was twelve.”
His eyes gleamed. “I thought you might have grown out of it.”
