Page 105 of Not In The Contract

For the first time since we’d met, awkwardness trickled into the silence between us, and I hated it.

“How did your meeting go?” I asked tentatively, watching as her fingers paused and she looked up at me, surprise clear on her face.

“Oh, it went okay,” she murmured. “Paula seemed to be happy with my research so far.”

I frowned, noting the small dent between her brows. “Are you happy?”

Her eyes widened owlishly. “Happy with what?” she squeaked, rushing to cover the sound with a cough.

“Your research, Devon.” I smiled.

“Oh- oh, obviously.” She laughed, a little breathless. “Uh, I don’t know. It could do with some tweaks, and I feel like I’m missing some key factors. It’s probably just the stress and the time limit.”

The reminder that our time together was quickly coming to an end spurred a new sense of urgency in me, and I cleared my throat. “Is it something I can help with?” I offered. “Perhaps some tragic backstory that we’ve yet to unlock?”

She smiled, and though it was a shadow of her usual megawatt grins, it still made my heart flutter. “I think you’ve had more than your fair share of tragic backstories,” she said.

I shrugged. “You never know.” I sighed. “You know what they say: where there’s smoke, there’s a fire.”

“Yeah, but you have a forest fire.” She giggled, andGodhearing her laugh again undid the knot in my chest with such ease. “That’s where the smoke is coming from. Mystery solved.”

“Nah, I think we can dig a little deeper,” I teased.

Her face smoothed out, the amusement dimming a little the longer she looked at me. “You know,” she said gently, squeezing my hand, “you deserve peace, too.”

“Do I?”

“Everyone does,” she said. “Well,mostpeople. Good people. Like you.”

“Your heart's too big for your own good, Devon,” I told her, my own traitorous heart thrashing around in my chest like a wild animal. “I’m glad you have Tamera to fight anyone who tries to hurt you.”

She smiled sadly and my heart lurched uncomfortably, winding me temporarily with the force of it.

“The world needs big hearts.” She shrugged. “Mine is by no means the biggest. I’m as selfish and cowardly as they come.”

“I find that very hard to believe.”

“Really?” she hummed through a laugh.

“Really.” I nodded. “You smile like everyone deserves to see happiness firsthand. You give them away like balloons at a carnival.”

“You have to pay for those now,” she pointed out.

“Youwhat?!”

Devon dissolved into a mess of muffled giggles while I tried to process the fact that balloons were no longer free at carnivals. To be fair, it’d been decades since I last visited one so my data may have been outdated.

“That just proves my point even more,” I said stubbornly, and she snorted.

“So I should charge people to see me smile?” she clarified.

“Absolutely,” I agreed. “You’d make a fortune.”

“You’re biased,” she accused. “You’re the only person who has ever told me I smile too much.”

“I didn’t say you smile too much.” I frowned. “It just seems so easy for you. To smile, I mean.”

“If you’re looking for a secret to smiling, I’m afraid you’re out of luck,” she said. “You don’t have time on your schedule for that.”