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“What can I say? You’re an easy mark.”
What I wouldn’t give to be marked by this man…
His eyes lock onto mine and I struggle not to bite my lower lip. My eyes drift to the menu board. I take in the hand-drawn shamrocks before noticing that he never fixed the incorrect spelling of leprechaun. “At least I know how to spellleprechaun,” I grumble.
Chuckling, Jared adopts a professorial tone. “Leprechaun. Noun. A mischievous fairy who hides treasure at the end of the rainbow. Would you like me to use it in a sentence?”
I roll my eyes. “No. I’d like you to spell it. Maybe if I grill you about it every day, you’ll get it right next year.”
Jared smirks. “L. E. P. R. E. C. H. A. U. N.”
My mouth falls open. “All this time, you’ve just been messing with me?”
He grins. “Yup.”
“Figures. They don’t let dummies into Harvard Law School, after all.”There. The cat’s out of the bag.
He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he uses the wet washcloth to wipe down one of my feet and then the other. “I never told anyone about that. How’d you find out?”
“I found your acceptance letter,” I admit, before rushing to add, “I wasn't snooping, I swear. I was looking after Hulk, and I wanted him to love me, so I scavenged the cabinets in search of treats.”
Jared laughs. “Of course, you did.”
I force my eyes to meet his. “Why didn’t you tell me, Jared?”
Switching from the washcloth to the towel, Jared gently dries my feet. “I was never going to go. I just wanted to know if Icould, you know?”
I shake my head. “Not really.”
He’s quiet for a few minutes, busying himself with massaging my feet. He could be a professional masseuse. I feel like he should be charging me. At his touch, all the aches and pains of the night seem to melt away.
“Mmm,” I murmur. “How’d you get so good at that?”
A small smile forms on his lips. “You can learn how to do anything on YouTube.”
For a few minutes, I enjoy the massage. When he’s finished, I try to pull my feet away, but he holds my legs to keep them in his lap. Then he starts talking again. “I guess I just needed options. I wanted to know that I could make it on my own if I had to. You may not always want me around, Mik.”
“That’s absurd!”How could he possibly think I wouldn’t want him around? I’llalwayswant him. Every minute of every hour of every day.
He chuckles. “Okay, then how about this? One of these days, you may have aboyfriendwho doesn’t want me around.”
My eyebrows pinch together. “What are you talking about?”
His gaze meets mine. “All I really want is to be right here where I am at this very moment…for the rest of my life.”
“At Mercury Slice?”
“At Mercury Slice. In Mercury Ridge. With you.”
My heart flutters in my chest.Is he saying what I hope he’s saying?
Then it occurs to me: he wants a bigger role in Mercury Slice. I’d already been planning to offer him a partnership, so I should be glad that he’s expressing interest now. But I can’t help but feel disappointed. I want so much more than that.
“Of course,” I say. “I was actually going to ask you to be my business partner. We’re a great team.” My heart clenches as I say the words.
“I’d love that,” he says slowly. “But Mikki, I need to be clear about something…” He takes a deep breath and holds it for a few seconds before releasing it. “We’ve been friends forever, so this is probably going to sound strange. But I’m not strong enough to see you with another man. Not when I’ve wanted you for so very long.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “Youwantme?”
