“I bet I could find something you think is ugly,” he says.
“Try me. I’m obnoxiously optimistic.”
His half-grin tells me he’s far more intrigued with me than this conversation would have anyone assume. Or maybe he’s realized the novel in his lap is boring. I know that author too well—the toothpaste to my orange juice—and each of her novels is exactly the same but with different character names.
She got another movie deal, though.Yawn.
“Snow on the streets of Chicago,” he says.
I smile. “The purest condensation marked by the life and chaos of the city. It’s rather poetic, isn’t it?”
He restrains his perfect smile that is growing increasingly familiar. “Coming from your mouth, I’d say so.”
I don’t think he means for it to be flirtatious but the intensity of his green eyes and the way his entire expression absorbs my answer makes my heart flutter a little faster.
“Poverty.”
Hard one.
“I mean, humans are beautiful regardless of the conditions they live in.”
“Platypuses.”
“Areadorable.” How dare he?
“You think?”
I scoff—a playful tick of my tongue against my teeth. “I don’t answer stupid questions.”
This warrants a laugh. It rumbles out of him—deep, breathy, warm. It gives me the same feeling as sitting next to a fire in the dead of winter with a glass of red wine and a good book.
His laugh subsides and he studies me for a minute. No doubt coming up with a list of things I might call ugly. He glances at my hands, then lands his gaze back on my eyes.
“The color orange.”
“Sunset is my favorite color.”
His brow twists and he pauses. “That’s not a color.”
“It is.”
He shakes his head. “Sunsets are a feeling.”
My stomach dips, but my expression doesn’t give me away. He’s about to charm the pants off of me, and I’m not wearing a chastity belt of any kind.
“Sunsets have all my favorite colors.”
“Fine,” he says, nodding as if that settles it, and returns to our game. “Dirty diapers.”
“At least they’re well fed.”
“A bad toupee.”
“Aw, he’s trying, and effort is beautiful.”
“Sending thoughts and prayers.”
I roll my eyes. “Listen, people don’t always have the right words to say.”
