"Me?" She chewed on her bottom lip. "By spice, do you mean…"
"I'm not talking about sex."
"Oh." Her gaze searched mine. "So, whatareyou talking about?"
I gave it some thought. "Do you wanna know the first thing I liked about you?"
"What?"
"How you said exactly what you were thinking. It was refreshing."
She gave me a skeptical look. "Refreshing, huh? I've never heard it calledthatbefore."
"I mean it," I said. "And for a damn good reason."
"Oh, yeah? What reason is that?"
I hadn't planned to go there.But to my own surprise, I found that Iwantedto tell her. "Well,myreason has a name."
"Whatname?"
"Natalia. Mylastgirlfriend. And do you wanna hear what happened?"
Chapter 27
Harper
I wasn’t sure what surprised me more – that Bryce had offered to tell me something so personal or the way he'd put it, emphasizing hislastgirlfriend, like he had a current girlfriend now.
And since he was talking tome, did that mean he considered me his girlfriend?Not likely.After all, we'd said nothing about being exclusive. And yet, the thought was far too appealing for my own good.
So much for being careful.
On the sofa next to me, Bryce said, "Youdorealize, you've got to tell me, right?"
"Tell you what?"
"What you're thinking."
I laughed. "How do you know I'm thinking anything at all?"
"Look in the mirror," he said. "You're an open book."
This wasn't a surprise. But it wasn't terrific either. Some girls could project an air of mystery. The only mystery aboutmewas how I'd ended up with hair so very red.
With a smile, I told Bryce, "Maybe I don'twantto be an open book."
"Why not?" he asked.
"Maybe I'd rather be cool and mysterious."
And of course, this made him snicker like a twelve-year-old. "You?"
I tried to glower. "Why not?"
"Because you're about as cool and mysterious as a firecracker." He grinned. "And just for the record, I'm not complaining."
In spite of everything, I was obscenely flattered. It wasn't the first time I'd been compared to a firecracker. But itwasthe first time in forever that anyone had said it as a compliment.
