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“You can tell Ben his roommate should add a warning that her virgin cucumber spritzer contains the same loosening effect as booze.”

“I need to level this playing field. Okay, truth cocoa.” Charlie blew into her mug. “Tell me something about yourself. Something embarrassing or random or something no one knows.”

“Hmmm. You’re going to make me think, aren’t you? I mean, embarrassing, really? Pretty sure I have a million of those.” Mack drummed her fingers against the mug. “Let’s see. Random, huh? Um, I hate pickles.”

“What? Who hates pickles?’

“Me.”

“I mean, no one hates pickles. Okay, okay, give me more.”

“More?” Mack tucked her legs underneath herself. “My favorite movie isFight Club.”

“Okay, Brad Pitt in that movie is the only time I questioned my sexuality.”

“Right? The movie was so smart. The writing is incredible. And the more I watched it, the more it resonated with me. This sort of weird obsession with material items and things and how it ruins you.”

Charlie set her mug on the side table and rested her head in her hand. “Okay. More. Rapid-fire style.”

“Gah. The pressure.” Mack chuckled. “I love clowns. Ihatecats. My dad taught me how to drive a stick shift—in New York City. Picture that for a moment. Figured if I could handle that, I could handle anything. I got a D in my freshman creative writing course, and if you asked me right this second to explain participial phrases and dangling modifiers, I’d panic.”

Charlie grinned. She had no idea what those words meant and didn’t necessarily care to learn. But knowing that Mack didn’t know, as Mack shook her head like she was disappointed in herself, tickled something. With every morsel of herself that Mack shared, Charlie inched closer, thirsty for more. She’d spent so much time with Mack over the last several weeks, but an entire person existed that she hadn’t tapped into. Her striking cheekbones, and fresh haircut and firm arms, may have caught her attention immediately, but now uncharted waters needed to be explored.

“Interesting. And you’re a writer? Okay, more.”

Mack looked towards the ceiling and settled into the couch. “More. Oof. Okay, I hate country music. I love the old crooners. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior, and Ray Charles are on constant rotation. Sometimes I wear noise-canceling headphones when Iwrite with nothing playing. I sleep with a sound machine. And I made out with a girl in the bathroom at a Britney Spears concert.”

Charlie’s mouth dropped, before she giggled. “I have so many questions. You went to a Britney Spears concert? Bathroom? Like how does that happen? Ask her for a tampon under the door and initiate a conversation?”

“Long story. Let’s just say I was on assignment for the college newspaper, and there may have been alcohol involved.” Mack twirled the cocoa with a stirring stick. “Um… I’m scared of needles, so part of me thinks you have an immortal superpower because you willingly have tattoo needles stuck in your body. I love anchovies on a pizza, my favorite snack is freezing grapes with Jell-O seasoning, and my favorite candy is Fun Dip. I order it in bulk online. And… um…”

Charlie lapped up every single morsel of intel and squeezed Mack’s knee. “One more. Come on. You can do it.”

“I’ve never liked hot chocolate until this moment.”

Charlie’s face flushed, and she sipped. The warmth of the liquid matched her insides, and her body gravitated toward Mack. She wanted to pull her in and taste her, but yesterday on the street, Mack didn’t make a move and left Charlie confused. But today, they held hands and satthis close, and Charlie’s heart hammered.

Charlie nibbled on the inside of her cheeks. “Have you ever been in love?”Jeezus.Personal question much? But she couldn’t help it. She needed to know everything. She said she never dated, but maybe that was a generalization.

“No,” Mack said firmly, holding her gaze. “I used to think it wasn’t in the cards for me.”

A touch of sadness that no one realized Mack’s awesomeness mixed with relief that Charlie wasn’t competing against the memory of an ex.

“And now?” Charlie’s voice cracked.

Mack placed her mug on the side table. “Now…” Mack’s gaze traveled the lust triangle from Charlie’s eyes and down to her lips and back again. “Now it seems like it might be in my future.”

Mack’s tender tone swam through Charlie. Everything in her body turned to liquid. She cupped Mack’s face and swiped her thumb across Mack’s impossibly soft skin on her cheeks. Doe eyes peered back at her, reading her soul, and her body tingled with a silky lust web that fanned from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.

Salt and blackberry drifted off Mack, and the back of Charlie’s throat moistened from craving. Mack rested her hands on Charlie’s thighs and inched closer. Charlie’s internal temperature rose to a feverish level, and her oxygen vanished. Mack leaned in a little more, and Charlie’s legs trembled. She was too close. She wanted—needed—to taste her.

Mack glided her hands up Charlie’s arm, leaving a path of goose bumps. Mack’s mouth hovered over Charlie’s skin, sending a ghost breath up Charlie’s neck.

Did she want this? Definitely maybe. If she did this, everything would change from this moment on. God, Mack smelledso good. The heat of Mack’s hands seeped through her back as she ran her fingertips up and down Charlie’s spine.

Oh my—she did want this.

So. Much.