“That’s the way to do it.” Uncle Paulie raised his hand, and I gave it a satisfying slap. “I like this girl. She gets revenge.”
Sal tickled my sides. “I like her too. She’s smart. And funny. And–”
“Stop.” I chuckled and trapped his hand behind my back, my heart racing. “I mean, thank you, but I can’t take this much playing, food, and positivity in one sitting, especially in public. We’ll have to work up to it.”
Sal snorted. “Is it okay to say you’re cool, then?”
Cool like Ash? Cool like a badass? Level-headed? A nice friend? Or someone he’d want to be with?
“I guess so.” I flushed and held up a forkful of sweet potatoes as a peace offering. He leaned forward, eating off my fork. I froze, stunned, as he licked orange smudge off his delectable lips. I’d meant for him to take thewhole utensil, but I guessed if he had my heart, it was okay to be touchy like this. Especially if it made him laugh.
Uncle Paulie tapped his cane to grab our attention. “Well, if you ever want me to track down those people who bothered you–”
“Can we hold off on jumping people until we’ve gone on a few dates?” Sal chided. “But seriously, if you want me to–”
“It’s fine.” I stabbed my dinner. “I’ll be making ten times as much as them while partnered with a man who respects women. Hopefully, that’ll kill them.”
Uncle Paulie and Sal cackled with laughter.
I fought a smirk and leaned into the toymaker's touch. Maybe I was kind of funny. And fun. With the right people, I could be cool.
Later, when things died down and a huffy Janice was assured we could send her all her custom content, Sal walked me to my car.
“It’ll help me work off the meal,” he joked.
“Do you think Tom’s offended we ate some of his people?” I asked, nestling the bird under my arm.
“Nah. He loves stuffing.” He grinned, cheesy and proud.
I snorted a laugh. If I was similarly inclined, I could say I loved the stuffing out of him, but that was too much. Not clever enough to risk the cheese factor.
We linked our fingers as if playing games together had just been a warmup for these last few weeks.
He nudged me with his arm. “I’m really thankful you came out today.”
I smiled at the salt crunching underfoot and squeezed the plush closer. “So am I.”
He peered at me. “It wasn’t overwhelming?”
“Only for a little bit.” I shrugged, scuffing my shoes. “At least your family was nice. That helps me tip-toe outside my comfort zone. Expandit, actually. And I appreciate they were all so welcoming, even if we did kind of spring our relationship on them.”
Nodding, he slowed his pace the closer we got to my car. “You know, a lot of people got on me about falling too hard, too fast. They encouraged me to try casual dating.” He sighed, his breath a puff of steam, then shook his head. “It wasn’t me. And as stupid as it sounds, I’m glad we tried this friends with benefits thing. It forced me to look at how you treated me as a friend, first, not just as a boyfriend. There wasn’t any bullshit about who paid for what or who texted when. You wanted to see me, with or without sex. Sure, you were closed off about some things, but you were also real with me.”
“About Janice?” I flushed and flexed my fingers around his.
“Nah, I mean any compliments, any feelings, any red flags you perceived. You wear your heart on your sleeve. You, um, definitely let people know how you’re feeling," he said.
“So, how did you not know I was into you and not Ash?”
“Didyouknow you liked me?” he teased.
“Not exactly.” I frowned, fiddling with my keys. Big emotions like that seemed to cloud my analytical abilities. Which could be alarming. But it didn’t have to be. “I’m going to trust my instincts.”
“What are they saying now?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows.
“Love you. Completely.”
He hummed and rested against the side of my car. “What does that mean, exactly?”
