He smiles and shakes his head. “Heard you got your period.”
Ocean, swallow me now.Hi, you’re attractive. Let me tell you about how I’m bleeding out of my no-no box.“Oh, god. I forgot.I forgot.”
“You forgot you got your period?”
“I forgot Addison’s as big of a gossip as Sabrina except Sabrina knows when to justgatherthe gossip andnot share it.”
“You need a painkiller or anything? Heating pad? Shoulder to cry on? Axes to throw?”
Is he serious?
He shrugs at my expression. “Mom wasn’t around when Em started hers, and Dad didn’t know what to do, so I figured I might as well dosomethingright as a big brother.”
Yep.
I totally and completely have a crush on this man. “I remember that,” I whisper. Then I shake my head. “But I didnotstart my period. I used it as an excuse to look for you.”
“Nobody else here knows it was an excuse,” he assures me. “We could beg off. Say you’re not feeling well. At least two-thirds of the groom’s family is already uncomfortable being in the same room as a woman who would dare to bleed out of her no-no box.”
I choke on air.
Is he reading my mind? Does he know I literally just thought that?
Are we on a wavelength?
Oh my god.
Theonlyreason he’d sayno-no boxis if…is if…is if my mother said it to him.
She’s the only person in all of the Tooth who calls vaginasno-no boxes.
“We arenotleavingone morewedding event,” I say like the frumpy, flat-bottomed hag that I’m trying so desperately tonotbe.
He grins and presses a kiss to my temple like he’sactuallymy date.
And I kinda like it.
Until I remember my parents are arriving tomorrow and this isnotwhat they need to see.
Not yet.
Shut the fuck up, Laney, I order myself.
Yes, with thefuckand all.
Theo’s a decent guy. I shouldn’t have judged him, and my parents shouldn’t either. And even if hedidplace an order with us a few years ago for a blanket with boobs on it to use as a cape, I don’t think that should define him. And definitely not as the miscreant my parents have always labeled him as.
“Did my mother ever talk to you about no-no boxes?” I ask.
“I like being stuck on the subject of your no-no box. And the wordvaginadoesn’t bother me either.”
I can’t tell if I’m turned on or embarrassed, but I know which one Iwantto be. “Are you making fun of me?” I whisper.
He squeezes me tighter. “I’m trying to have fun with you, but if it’s making you uncomfortable, I’ll stop.”
“Iwantto have fun.”
“All different kinds of fun. Don’t have to like them all.”
