“The one and only.”
Her mouth quirks on the right, sardonic and subtle. “Why’s that?”
“Because you tell me no. She thinks more people, mainly women, should tell me no.”
“I like her already.”
“She’s very likeable. It’s in the Avery blood.”
Lilly looks to her right, noticing my hand on the counter less than an inch from her hip. She takes a deliberate step back, her face taking on that worried-over-the-lion look she wore earlier.
“No,” she says simply.
“No what?”
“No to whatever it is you’re thinking right now.”
“I’m thinking you smell nice. What is that? Dior?”
“No.”
“Hilfiger?”
“No.”
“Hermes?”
“No.”
I grin. “Are you going to say no to everything I ask?”
Her eyes dance playfully. “No.”
“Are you mad I’m here?”
Lilly pauses, her face falling serious. “No.”
“Do you want me to go?”
She hesitates. “No.”
“Do you want to get dinner with me tonight?”
“No.”
Despite her pattern, I’m not ready for that answer. It throws me for a loop. Stumbles my step.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I got turned down for a date. I don’t know for sure that it’s ever happened before. It definitely feels new.
“Are you sure?” I ask, searching for my footing.
“Yes.”
“Now you know the word.”
She smiles. “Sorry.”
I groan affectedly. “Don’t apologize. That’s salt on the wound. It makes it so much worse.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” she laughs.
“I want you to be real with me. If you’re saying no, you’re saying no. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop trying, though.”
“It’s a free country.”
I study her closely. “Do you want me to quit trying?”
She looks away. “I’m done playing Twenty Questions.”
“No way! I want my answer.”
“Nobody gets everything they want, Avery.”
“I do.”
She grins artfully. “Not today you don’t.”
Five minutes later and we’re filming. I’ve been on TV before, this isn’t my first rodeo, but I can tell the girls are nervous. They giggle a lot, something I wouldn’t have thought Lilly was capable of doing. I like it, though. I like everything she does, even when she’s shutting me down.
She’s beautiful under the bright lights with her cheeks flushed. They match her lips, and there’s something insanely sexy in the way she quirks them at me. It’s not a smile, not even a grin, but when I’m being obnoxious she twists them in this way that’s disapproving and laughing at the same time. She’s annoyed but she likes it. She likes me, even if she won’t say it. It does it for me in the worst way. She doesn’t give me anything for free. I’m earning those smirks, those hot little lip quirks, and I eat them up like candy for breakfast, wondering what it would be like to taste her, just for a second.
“Colt?” Sandra calls loudly. It doesn’t sound like it’s the first time.
I tear my eyes away from Lilly. “What’s up?”
“Rona was handing you the next cookie to dip.”
“Oh, right.” I take the little black circle from Rona, resisting the urge to pop it in my mouth. I frown at the mess in front of me, white chocolate dripped all over the counter, the bowls, my hands. I’m not great at this. “Are you sure you want me to do this? The ones I’ve dipped look like shit.”
“Watch the language, please. We’re rolling.”
“Sorry. They look like crap.”
“They look fine. You’re doing great.”
I glance between the cookie sheet in front of me and the one in front of Lilly, both slowly filling with white creations. Hers are perfectly smooth circles. Mine are… well, mine literally look like piles of shit.
I get a bit of frosting on my finger as I get ready to ugly dip my next cookie. I go to lick it off when the cookie slips, falling inside the melted chocolate, dropping to the ghostly deep. I bite on a curse, moving to dip my fingers full on inside the bowl after it.
Lilly stops me with a firm hand on my arm. “Don’t.”
“My hands are clean.”
“No one’s hands are that clean. Besides, it’ll make more of a mess.”
She hands me a fork before picking up one of her own. I follow her lead, lowering mine into the chocolate on the opposite side of the bowl from her. We both push forward, meeting in the middle at the cookie. Together we raise it slowly.
“You know what this is like?” I ask her deeply. Suggestively.
She shakes her head. “It’s not like sex. Not even a little bit.”
“Is your mind always in the gutter? I was going to say it’s like teamwork.”
“Sure you were,” she laughs. I watch as she sticks the tip of her tongue out the side of her mouth as the cookie emerges. “Okay, we got it. To keep it smooth we let it sit on the fork. The chocolate will run right off. You just have to be patient.”