Page 41 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

“The craft station, where you have to make something useful. Can’t just be a picture.” He pointed past me and I glanced at the far end of the hallway, where he’d set out a ton of DIY stuff.

“Then why’s there a canvas?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the old frame that I probably bought ten years ago or so.

“I don’t know. You have too much art and crafts stuff. I just grabbed a few things from the basement.”

“You can’t just graba few things. It’s sorted by project. You have the jewelry making box, the soap making equipment, embroid- I mean, you can’t replace the wick for scented candles with glittery embroidery yarn.”

“You’ll figure something out.” A small smirk played over his lips, and my stomach flipped. I was going to play a dozen rounds of this game for the chance of seeing that again.

“What’s the third station?” I asked, suddenly breathless.

“TV room karaoke.”

“Nope. You lost me.”

“One drink, one trinket, one song, and the ice cream is yours.”

“Or I just get off the chair, walk to the kitchen and get myself some ice cream.”

“It’s not in the kitchen. It’s in a cooler, which I have hidden somewhere in this house. You complete each station, and you get a clue.”

“Fine,” I blew out a long breath, “I’ll play, but you have to tell me why.”

“Because you need to have some fun.”

“I don’t...”

“Come on, Cordelia. The cooler won’t keep the ice cream frozen all night.”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Jeez, you’re bossy.” I grabbed the back of my chair for support and took a large step onto thebench. Beyond that, nothing was within immediate stepping distance. “How am I supposed to get anywhere from here?”

Victor jumped from the armchair to the sofa and waved for me to join him. “Jump. I’ll catch you.” I hesitated, jumped, almost slipped off the sofa’s arm rest but Victor’s hands were around my middle before my balance could tilt. “See?”

“Thanks,” my breath stuttered in my lungs as I gazed up into his stark green eyes. There it was again, that voice in the back of my head that told me to kiss him. To just go for it. That being this close to him was right. I cleared my throat but Victor didn’t let go of me. “Usually, I’m the one with the silly ideas, and you tell me not to turn the entire house into a blanket fort, not to fill the pool with bubbles…”Not to hire a body double to take my place.

“Desperate times.” His thumb drew the slowest of circles over my back, pulling a deep shiver from my chest that rattled down to my tailbone.

“I’m in desperate need of fun?” I felt my tongue move, but the voice sounded throaty and foreign in the space between us.

He tilted his head in a curt nod that brought out the small cleft in his chin. Goodness, I wanted to run my tongue through-nope. I cleared my throat and shuffled back on the sofa.

After consulting Del, Tabitha and Defne for many hours and over many texts, I had come up with the simplest of plans: Wait until Victor made a move. I’d kissed him, so the ball had to be in his court, right? So he could kiss me, or ask me out, or do whatever it was people did to romantically pursue someone.

He could even serenade me. Karaoke was on the docket tonight, right?

Or stand in the backyard and yell up at my balcony like Romeo. Except I didn’t have a balcony, just a window. And it was freezing outside.

“Drinks?” Victor asked, snapping me back to the present.

“Yes.”

The next few minutes consisted of me trying to jump between a footrest and the sofa table, which were entirely spaced too far apart. After my first few almost-jumps, Victor started yelling at me in Russian, and I yelled back that I was not risking my rainbow sprinkles in the first round.

When I did make the jump, I collapsed onto the sofa table in giggles, completely out of breath. But I’d done it. Victor followed with two long strides. Completely unfair advantage with his longer legs. He stood over me, shaking his head.

“Impossible girl,” he huffed with just a hint of another smirk before helping me up.

My chosen cocktail consisted of mango and passionfruit juice, coconut water and two shots of rum. Victor deemed it good enough and paused the game just to get some ice cubes from the kitchen.