Accidentally Amy

by Lynn Painter

“I did, too, but I didn’t know how to tell you. Hence the pumpkin spice latte.”

For a split second he blessed me with a grin that acknowledged my stupid joke, but then…then. The grin was gone, and all that was left behind was this wildly potent, one-hundred-proof, undiluted expression of interest as he gave me full-on eye contact. With a jaw flex. The moment held, and I felt like I was being physically pulled closer to the guy. The entire world went quiet as an invisible string tugged me toward him.

“All wankiness aside, I rather like hearing the voice of the person I’m talking to.”

“If I didn’t already have a cat, I’d be begging you to go with me to the shelter and pick out a bunny this very minute.”

I just shook my head and sighed. Typical man, assuming he knows something about something he knows nothing about.

Blake: Don’t be scared, Iz. Just take a deep breath and let yourself fall.

It wasn’t that she was doing anything unusual or wrong, it was that she looked so unbelievably at home. Like she belonged there.

Dear God, she was so fucking pretty. It wasn’t about her looks, though, as asinine as that sounded. She was pretty because she was alive and chaotic and funny and smart. Her eyes fucking sparkled and her nose crinkled and her mouth slid into smiles as if that were its default.

“But, Iz?” “Yeah?” I shook out my fingers at my side. “The way you kissed Tom Colicchio,” he said, his dark eyes hot, “was fucking sinful.”

“Because you’re this fucking gorgeous sweet weirdo that I am obsessed with.”