Page 79 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Don’t be a barbarian and eat my extra chocolate ice cream when you run out after only one scoop.” I lightly nudge him with my shoulder.

He laughed and put his arm behind me on the back of the booth. He wasn’t touching me, but I could feel the heat radiating from his arm.

“I noticed you’re not wearing Axel’s jacket today,” he said.

I laughed awkwardly. “Yeah. I need to return that.”

“So there’s nothing going on between you two, right?”

I got why he was asking. But I really reeeeally didn’t want to talk about Axel right now.

At the same time though, I also kind of needed to.

If Jacob somehow found out about Operation Too Hot to Handle, specifically Phase Incest, he’d be so hurt.

And I needed to be preemptive about this. I exhaled slowly.

“Oh no,” Jacob said. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“No, it’s not bad. Just...um...” My voice trailed off. “Look, I may have had a crush on Axel for a bit.”

“Just a bit, huh?” Jacob raised his eyebrow. “More like forever.”

I groaned. “Was it that obvious?”

“To everyone but him I think.”

This was mortifying. I hadn’t realized that everyone else knew. I was so pathetic. “I need to tell you something, but I need you to promise to just hear all of it before you react.”

“Okay...”

“At the start of this year, Sophie and I came up with Operation Too Hot to Handle.”

Jacob laughed. “You two and your operations. What was this one about?”

“It was about me changing up my look. You know.” I gestured to my face that wasn’t hidden beneath glasses.

“Trust me, I’ve noticed your new look.” He smiled.

And that just made my stomach twist with guilt. “The new look was to win over Axel. But it completely backfired.”

Jacob pulled his eyebrows together.

“And then Sophie came up with this idea that if I flirted with you in front of Axel, then Axel would get jealous and finally ask me out.” I didn’t tell him the name of the phase. Because no one wanted to hear that. And it wasn’t freaking incest.

Jacob pulled his arm off the back of the bench.

“But I didn’t need to pretend to flirt with you. It just happened very naturally. And I think I’ve been blind this whole time. I don’t think that Axel is the guy for me but maybe you are?” I wasn’t sure why that came out as a question. I’d meant it.

Jacob just stared at me.

“I think maybe I explained that all wrong. I’m just trying to say that Operation Too Hot to Handle was canceled as soon as I realized I have actual feelings for you.

” God, why wasn’t he saying anything? “Or if you think we’re just friends or whatever.

..cool.” My voice was suddenly weirdly high-pitched.

“Because obviously we’re friends. And this was just a friendship ice cream date thing, right?

I don’t think you ever said date date. And maybe I jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I mean, everyone likes ice cream. And ice cream is a casual thing.

” God. “Can we maybe just forget everything I just said? Where is our ice cream? This is taking forever, right? Should I call the waitress over? I think I should.” I lifted my hand in the air to get the waitress’ attention.

But Jacob grabbed my hand and pulled it down. And he kept holding it.

I looked up at him. “Please just say something. I am so so sorry.”

“It was real for me,” Jacob said slowly.

“I know, it was real for me too. That’s what I was trying to say.”

He smiled. “And this is a date date. Not a friendship date.”

Really? I felt the smile spread across my face. “Noted.”

“I know your original plan backfired. But I don’t want to be your second choice, Scarlett. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to notice me like that?”

I laughed. “Don’t even with me. We both know we’ve always just been friends before this year.”

“Not true.”

I just stared at him.

“I’ve had a crush on you ever since I first moved to the city. But it was always you and Axel...”

“It was never me and Axel.”

He raised his eyebrow. “You used to talk all the time about how you were going to get married and have like a bajillion kids or something.”

“I was just a kid. I was stupid.”

Jacob laughed.

“I really didn’t know that you liked me like that.”

“Why do you think I stood at the red panda exhibit for hours with you once a week for years?”

The red panda exhibit. I swallowed hard. What were the odds of him bringing that specific thing up today after I talked about red pandas last night with my kiss thief? It was totally him, wasn’t it? It had to be. I was so relieved. “I thought you just liked red pandas.”

“I liked you.”

I smiled.

The waitress brought over our banana splits.

I immediately lifted my spoon and took a big bite. “You’re right, these are the absolute best banana splits.”

“Not a banana split,” he said and stared at my chocolate ice cream.

“Is too.”

He chuckled. But instead of taking a bite of his banana split he just stared at me. “So you swear nothing is going on between you and Axel?”

“No. I’m done with him. And the feeling is mutual. He doesn’t like me and never will.”

“Of course he likes you, Scar.”

I forced myself not to choke on my ice cream. “What?”

“Just not in that way. You guys are best friends. He just thinks of you as like...a little sister, you know?”

No, I hadn’t known that. What the actual F? “Right.” I laughed awkwardly, hoping Jacob couldn’t tell how hurt I was by that. Axel thought of me like a little sister? It would certainly explain why it seemed like he’d literally date anyone but me.

“He’s very protective over you. Whenever someone so much as mentions your name in the locker room he threatens them to stay away from you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, he’s been scaring off potential dates for years. Total big brother vibes.”

I hated this for me.

“But I figured he wouldn’t care if I asked you on a date. Because he knows I’d treat you right. I have no idea what his problem is. He’s being a total dick though. You know he hasn’t handed me the ball in practice all week?”

“Liam mentioned that. I actually told Axel off this morning. And told him to start handing it off to you again.

“You did?” Jacob laughed. “I wish I’d seen that.”

“I don’t know how he expects to win the game without his star running back.”

Jacob smiled. “He’ll come around. As soon as he realizes I’m not just trying to hook up with you, you know?”

No, I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything about Axel apparently.

I took another bite of ice cream as my mind spun with everything Jacob had just said.

But it totally made sense. When Sophie had asked them if anyone had asked about me in the locker room, Jacob and Axel had just looked at each other and ignored the question.

But it was because they both knew someone had asked about me.

Or a few someones apparently. How long had Axel Stevens been trying to ruin my freaking life? !

“You really are serious about your love for ice cream,” Jacob said.

“What?”

He nodded down.

I’d almost finished my whole sundae and Jacob had barely touched his. I was stress eating. God. Axel was ruining my date and he wasn’t even freaking here. I took a deep breath to try to get Axel out of my head.

Wait. I’d almost forgotten something important.

I looked up at Jacob. I was becoming surer by the second that he was my kiss thief.

He’d talked about red pandas. He was plenty tall enough.

His abs were amazing. He knew I hadn’t had a first kiss.

And he just confessed that he’d had a crush on me forever.

Practically a stalker, really. I smiled.

I just needed proof. I needed to kiss him.

And Sophie had given me the whole plan.

I cleared my throat. “You have something right here.” I tapped the corner of my lip.

He wiped the side of his mouth.

“Other side.”

He grabbed a napkin and wiped off his whole mouth.

How was I supposed to pretend there was something there now that he’d wiped every inch of his lips?

He turned back toward his banana split.

I just needed to go for it. I could maybe pretend it was a little higher. Like on his cheek. That could have easily been missed by the napkin. “Actually,” I said. “It’s right there.” I reached out to touch his cheek.

But he turned to look at me at the exact same time.

And I somehow poked him right in the eye.

“Ow, shit,” he said and dodged away from me.

“Oh my God, Jacob, I’m so sorry!”

He winced with one eye. “It’s fine. It barely hurts.”

But I’d jabbed him pretty hard right in the eye. Why had I gone in so hot? I was supposed to gingerly touch his lips, not assault him. I cringed. At least his eye had been closed.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Mhm.” He blinked and moved his nose around. “I’m good.” He laughed.

Sophie had said all I had to do was touch his lips and he’d do the rest. I guess touching lips instead of eyes were two pretty different things.

I grabbed my glass of water. “Put this against your eye.”

Jacob laughed again. “You didn’t give me a black eye. How hard do you think you just struck me?”

I hated that I’d struck him at all. “I can’t believe I just ruined our first date.”

He smiled. “Telling me about your undying love for Axel and poking me in the eye? Nah.”

I groaned. “It’s just like me to ruin my first date ever.”

“I liked being your first.” He smiled.

I stared at him. He didn’t say he’d stolen my first date. But he certainly seemed pleased that it was my first. And there was someone else that seemed fixated on stealing my first everything. I am so onto you, Jacob Miller. Or should I say...Kiss Thief?