Maid for Each Other

by Lynn Painter

And as ridiculous as it was, it felt a little…good to have him look at me like that.

“Well, that’s too bad because Dex’s face looks better when you’re with him.”

everyone had seemed to find her delightful. I mean, if I were being honest, I had, too. I hadn’t a clue as to who she really was in her daily life, but she’d been charming as fuck at the cocktail party. And it seemed she was quite the creative.

“You can’t use the words volunteer and forty thousand dollars in the same sentence.”

and I realized that what I’d said to her earlier was the truth. I really didn’t not like her.

“So how did you convince her? Or did sparks fly and this fake relationship is morphing into something real?”

“For the most beautiful girl in the room,” I said, meaning that part of it.

but I would never want to do anything that made you feel uncomfortable or that you hadn’t consented to.”

Was it weird that the sarcasm I’d hated when I met her was starting to appeal to me?

ME

I’d literally sat inside friends’ houses before while their dog’s dander tightened my chest because I didn’t want to insult them by not hanging out with their dog.

We were nothing to each other in real life, but he’d still made me a priority when I’d needed him.

something about Declan’s worry, and the way he’d taken care of me, felt personal. And it was disturbing how much I liked it.

But I didn’t feel casual or remotely relaxed, mostly because I was leaving and something about leaving her made me feel unsettled.

There was something about the idea of her brain running wild on paper, creating stories, that I found mildly intoxicating. Made me want to sit at her feet and listen to her talk for hours. Shit—what the hell is wrong with me?