Page 69 of Lessons in Timing

I grinned at him. “You are so much hotter than I expected.” Ooh, was Armand in for a happy, sexy surprise!

Lucas, who had moved elegantly from shock to friendly amusement, waved the compliment away and put his hands on his hips. “Wow, so you know Armand, huh?” he shook his head in disbelief. “This is ridiculous. Everyone’s met this man but me.”

“You guys still texting?” I’d left my prima-donna persona behind because intrigue always took precedence—especially with Armand and his soul/roommate crap.

Lucas’s tan cheeks flushed, but he seemed amused. “He told you that? What do you do for him, exactly?”

I shrugged, laughing. “Everything? You’ve seen how he lives. My job is to make sure he gets places and does things, you know? All of the things.”

Lucas nodded, gently biting his lower lip in a smile that made it clear he knew exactly what I meant. How could he not? He had a front row seat. “He does seem kind of ... eccentric? But nice,” he quickly amended. “With the muffins and everything.” Lucas glanced down and fidgeted with his camera.

“Muffins?” I blinked at him.

“The ones he baked for me.” Were Lucas’s cheeks going a little pink, there?

Oh mygod, they were going to be so cute together!

Then I processed what he’d said and had to keep from outright punching him. “He baked you muffins!” I gasped. The idea was absolutely mind-boggling.

Lucas nodded, smiling through his blush. “It was sweet ...” Then he gave me a conspiratorial eyebrow pop. “What can you tell me about him?”

I rubbed my hands together like a cheap movie villain and chuckled. “Ooh, anything you want to know! I can tell you straight out that he wouldn’t bake muffins for justanyone.” I had to stifle a snort at the image. “And he’s a bit of a grumpy bear.”

“Ihavenoticed he’s a man of few words, even over text.”

I nodded. “True, but those words hedoessay are spoken in a sexy-as-all-hell English accent, so it’s kinda worth it.”

Lucas’s smile pulled off to the side. “Yeah, I know he’s British.”

“SexyBritish,” I clarified. “Like, he has this sort of early nineties Marc Jacobs British grunge thing going on, like if Dev Patel did a Kurt Cobain biopic ... but I don’t think it’s intentional.AndI can also tell you he’s got to be one of the most socially awkward people I’ve ever met.Ever.”

“I kinda picked up on that.” He grinned. And there was so much affection in it my heart nearly died inside my chest. “It’s been hard to miss.”

Wasanyoneever going to smile aboutmethat way? Bakemeany damn muffins?

No, no, they were not.

And just like that I was thinking about Skyler again.

I shook myself slightly. “How the hell have you guys not met yet? Be honest, you’ve been hiding from each other.” It immediately became clear that I’d said something wrong, because Lucas paled and his mouth twisted into a pained grimace.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks,” he said, avoiding my eyes.

I was overwhelmed with remorse. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything, I’m sure you’ll run into each other eventually. Even though there’s only, like, a week left? Before he leaves?”

He gave a sad smile. “I hope so.” He cleared his throat, holding up his camera. “Shall we get down to business, then?”

I nodded and adjusted my costume. “Where do you want me?”

Once we wrapped up the photoshoot, and exchanged numbers because the Armand back-channeling had to keep going for the good of humanity, I made it home and into bed and did some very belated googling. I found Lucas’s photography portfolio and—

Pictures of Skyler. With horses.

I immediately pasted one of them into mine and Skyler’s chat with an accompanying:this you?

Skyler:oh no you discovered my secret

Skyler:I’ve told you that I work with horses at least five times :D