“Sure,” I said, loving the idea way more than he did. Far more than I should have. “Something like that.”
Lucas thought about it for a few moments, then waved his pastry-holding hand. “Cronut you. How about that?”
His smile was big, bright, all megawatt power on display.
And I looked at him as he sat there like this was nothing, like he wasn’t wonderful and he wasn’t making it very hard for me not to like him more and more, so much that I had to physically restrain myself from telling him that I believed he was the sweetest man I’d ever met. Sweeter than any pastry he could get me. “Cronut you, Lucas.”
And without another word, we dug in, equally delighted moans leaving our mouths. The contents of the box disappeared in record time. And by the time we’d both finished licking the tips of our fingers, I had successfully managed to forget about almost everything.
“So, Rosie,” Lucas said, pinning me with a look that should have warned me of what was to come. “Will you finally tell me about your writer’s block and this long line of assfaces you’ve dated?”
CHAPTER TEN
Rosie
“So you heard all of that, huh?”
I knew he had, and I glanced in embarrassment at the hair-thin space that separated our knees.
“I think the whole neighborhood did; you were having a very loud conversation with the window wide open.”
I covered my face with my hands.“Great.”
I felt what had to be his fingers gently wrap around my right wrist. A breath got stuck in my throat at the unexpected contact. He pulled softly, tingles spreading down my arm, and I… well, I couldn’t do anything but let him retrieve that one hand off my face.
I gave him a one-eyed appraisal.
“I’m going to be honest, Rosie.” He went for my other wrist, and when I resisted a little, the small smile that had been playing on his face widened, dazzling me enough to let him take that other hand down.Ugh, stupid, stupid beautiful smile. “I might have accidentally listened to a fair chunk of it from the street. But when I sprinted upstairs and stood outside the door to listen to the rest, I did so completely intentionally.”
“Okay,” I answered slowly, bringing my hands to my lap. “Thanks for your honesty.”
Because what was I supposed to say? For some reason, I wasn’t even mad about it. I was… many things. But mad wasn’t one of them.
“I like you, Rosie,” Lucas said, and my heart tripped at the words. “I think it’s pretty obvious.” He gave me an unapologetic shrug, the drumming in my chest resuming at an increasing pace. “But you believing that you’re a failure?Just because you have writer’s block? I didn’t like that. Not one bit. And as your friend, I’m going to tell you, just like my cousin did.”
As your friend.
Because he liked me as afriend. Of course, I knew that. That wasn’t new information.
He continued, “And as your friend, I also want to help. My cousin is not here, so I could take over for her. Be yourbestie?”
My bestie. That sounded equal parts wonderful and stomach-turning. I sighed. “Okay?”
Lucas inched forward the tiniest bit. “Lina said you’ve sworn off men. And dating apps.” His expression turned serious. “Why?”
I shook my head, feeling the tips of my ears burn. “I don’t think I want to take a walk down Memory Lane: Depressing Dating Edition with you, Lucas,” I muttered.
“I’m trying to understand. I’m at a clear disadvantage here. I’m missing all these pieces of Rosie that Lina has.” He shifted to the very edge of the coffee table, the inside of his knees now touching the outside of mine. I swallowed. “And I’m a man who has dated. Plenty. I don’t scare easily.”
Thatplentyhe’d dropped so casually sparked my curiosity. Fine, it did more than that. It also did a teeny-tiny bit of jealousy. “So… you’re like a dating expert or something?”
He tilted his head, thinking of his answer. “I wouldn’t say an expert, but no woman has ever complained.”
Was he a serial dater, then? His words from a few days ago came back to me. Together with a new flare of jealousy. “I thought you didn’t date anymore.”
Lucas had also said that no one had ever broken his heart, but I kept that remark for myself.
“You have good memory, Rosalyn Graham,” he admitted. “And no, I don’t date. I’m not in the market for that. I can’t be.”