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Stanton puffed out a frustrated breath through his nose. “Okay, how about Graphic Design in the Real World,” he said. Stepping forward, he took her arm and ushered her inside. It was only then that she spotted Sady and Logan standing in the opposite corner.
Everly’s breath seized in her lungs. This was the first time she’d seen Logan since the barbeque at her mom’s house on Saturday, unless she counted the second episode of the show, which had aired last night.
This one had been entirely focused on the Ren faire, with plenty of footage of Everly trying on costumes and a good five minutes dedicated to her performance awarding the knights during the joust. But the episode’s whole narrative was anchored around her conversation with Jazzy aboutchoosing a word of her own. It changed the cadence of everything. Made it about her and her personal growth rather than chasing some crush.
Everly had felt vindicated. Like her plan to keep James off Sady’s radar by avoiding him had worked.
Then, in the last fifteen minutes, the showrunner had gone and complicated things.
The segment had started with Stanton introducing Everly to the vendors in the body art tent, where she’d gotten into an extended conversation with a face painter who also did tattoos. She’d given Everly a ton of excellent resources for finding apprenticeships and getting practice equipment. After only a few minutes, though, the scene segued into footage of Everly and Logan. Someone had captured their entire interaction in the tent, both while he was filming and once he’d stopped. Given that the angle was from the doorway, Everly assumed it was Sady. She must have recorded them on her phone.
The idea of being filmed without her knowledge was unsettling, but those thoughts had been quickly shoved aside by Everly’s swirling stomach and her brother and Becca yelling, “Oh my god, look how he’s staring at you.”
There wasn’t a second that Logan’s eyes strayed from her, as if they were tethered to her face. She’d had her back to him that day, so she hadn’t seen his expression. How carefully he was listening. How soft his eyes were. That hint of a smile tugging at his lips.
She wanted him to look at her that way all the time.
But that couldn’t happen. It didn’t matter if he said all the right things or that he listened attentively when she spoke. It didn’t matter that he had eyes with a touch as intense as any hand. Or arms that made her want to order him to pick things up to watch them flex. Or a smile as warm as sunlight. Or a voice that sent shivers down her spine every time it scratched out her name.
Falling for him had the potential to ruin everything Everly was doing onOn the Plus Side.
She needed a system reset. A return to default settings. A canvas erased to white. Logan was just the cameraman. She was just the person he had to point the lens at. If they could remain in those roles, keep those boundaries clear, no one had to get hurt.
She refocused her attention on Stanton. “What are we doing here?”
“Helping you see what it would look like to go from the reception desk to the art department.” He guided Everly toward the seat Sady had designated for her beside James.
Because of course.
“Alex also knows some people at a few publishers if that’s where you end up wanting to go.” Stanton smiled at the senior designer as he added, “You should see the cool cover designs in her apartment.”
Alex cocked their head at Everly. They had blond hair striped with pink and a fresh side shave on the left. Like Everly, Alex had their own uniform, but it was one Jazzy would actually approve of: skinny jeans and a short-sleeved button-down in zany prints. Today’s was olive green with red and white mushrooms dotted across it. “I didn’t know you did cover designs.”
Everly rarely mentioned her art at work. The space under the table became suddenly appealing. A perfect place to lie down and never get up.
“Not for real or anything.” She scrubbed at the heat invading her cheeks. Alex was destined to be the next head of the department. Next to them, Everly wasn’t sure her own projects could be called actual designs. “It’s just a hobby. It’s fun to play around with how I’d represent the story.”
James cast his high-beam smile at her. “She’s soooo good, Alex. I follow her on social media. You should see her stuff.”
“Could I?” Alex asked.
Her stomach fluttering against her ribs, Everly pulled up the photos on her phone. Once she found the best ones, she set the device between James and Alex and attempted to back away.
She didn’t get far. James looped one of his muscular arms around her shoulders and eased her body against him. Herentireright side—ribs, hips, waist, thigh—was pressed to his left, and her heart threatened to explode straight out of her chest.
He’d been taking up less and less space in Everly’s head lately, but that didn’t change the fact that he was hot as hell, and that she’d spent over a year infatuated with him. The moment he rested himself against her, her body forgot every one of her mature, levelheaded breakthroughs. There was only his warmth, and how solid he was, and how easy it was to lean into him without worrying about falling over.
Her blood burned hot in her veins, her pulse rushing to all the wrong places.
This is not going to happen,Everly yelled silently to herself.Do not give Sady more fodder for her imaginary romance plot. You don’t want this. You don’tneedit.
She straightened as much as she could with the anchor of his arm on her. If nothing else, the full-body contact was a nice, momentary distraction from her Logan problem. At this rate, Schrödinger was going to need a bigger box for all these guys she refused to deal with.
“Damn, Everly. These are fantastic.” Alex held the phone close to their face, swiping the pictures back and forth and pinching their fingers to the screen to zoom in. “TheAlice in Wonderlandone is spot-on.” They cast their brown eyes at her. “People would pay for this.”
“It’s just a doodle.”
“No way, V. No self-deprecating. You’re a fantastic artist.” James faced her, and because of their height difference, his nose and mouth skimmed her hair. “Whoa, your hair smells good.”
