“You didn’t mean to.”
“No, I didn’t. But negligence is still a punishable offense, and I’m going to make it up to you so hard.”
She smiled into her wine glass. “That’s sweet of you.”
“Don’t think for one second that I don’t know how fucking lucky I am to have you, Riley,” he said, practically smoldering with intensity.
She couldn’t decide whether the warm-and-fuzzy or the turned-on reaction was going to win. “You called me Riley.”
“Uh, fair warning. If you tell me that’s not your real name and you’ve been letting everyone call you by the wrong name because you didn’t want to be a bother, I’m probably going to flip out.”
She tried to stifle a yawn. “You only call me Riley when you’re being super serious.”
He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’m always going to be super serious when it comes to you. Now, is there anything else you want to get off your really sexy chest before we collapse from exhaustion?”
Riley took a deep breath, but instead of just exhaling air, she exhaled the words that had been building up all day.
“I don’t think I’m psychic anymore!” she wailed. “Gabe warned me, but I pushed too hard and ended up frying Cotton Candy World. I might have even killed my spirit guides. I mean, if they can be killed. I always assumed they were already dead, but now I’ll never get the chance to ask them because they aren’t there anymore. And I didn’t want to tell anyone because I know I made a big deal about not wanting to be psychic, but I got kind of used to it. Maybe I even started to like it. And now I don’t feel like I’m myself. You know?”
She lifted her watery gaze to his face.
Nick was frozen wide-eyed with his hand still behind her ear. “Uhhh. Okay. Wow. That’s a lot to unpack.”
“What am I gonna do if I’m not psychic anymore? My grandmother will disown me. Mom’s going to be disappointed. And Gabe. Oh my God. Just picturing his big, sad face when I tell him I fried my own circuits after he warned me to be careful makes me want to throw up and cry.”
“Those sound like very valid concerns,” he said.
She sniffled. “They do?”
“Baby, they’re your feelings. Of course they’re valid. I mean, this is all fresh. Maybe someone dumber and less awesome would try to say you were overreacting since you were obviously having a vision of Tommy climbing in Sesame’s window while you were sleeping.”
She frowned. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Unless you believe in really specific coincidences, you definitely did. But if you want to panic about it, I’ll hyperventilate with you. If you want to hide it from your family, I’ll help you lie to them.”
“That’s really nice of you,” she said, reaching out and rubbing her hand against his stubbled jaw.
“All the things you’ve done for me? All the ways you put up with me? I owe you, Thorn. We’ll figure this out together. And not the version of together where one of us locks themselves away to obsess about something for an extended period of time. I’m here for you. Psychic or not. I love the hell out of you, and I swear on Burt’s head that I will never make you feel abandoned like that. I might worry you and I might make you doubt your taste in men on occasion, but I never want to remind you of that spray-tanned puppet.”
And just like that, her nerves vanished. “I love the hell out of you too. What are you doing?” she asked when he backed away.
“Topping you off,” he said, picking up the bottle.
She gasped. “Nick Santiago!”
“What?”
She pointed at the wine. “You talked to my dad! You’re ALECTO-ing me!”
“You know about ALECTO?”
“Of course I know about ALECTO! You think Dad came up with that on his own? Mom said it took her twelve years of positive reinforcement to get him to that level.”
“I’m not sure what to do here. Do I start back at the beginning, or do I just keep topping you off? Also, I missed the foot-rub-and-chocolate part. I could start over with that.”
Riley bit her lip. “The next step is you take your pants off.”
He perked up. “Really?”
