Page 52 of Revenge Puck

“I have been. I don’t need you to become more unbearable.”

Blaire flutters her lashes. “Aww, you do love me!”

I open my mouth to argue with her when my phone buzzes in my hand.

Once.

Twice.

My soul leaves my body.

Blaire’s eyes go enormous. “Was that…?”

I tap the screen so my friend momentarily disappears and stare:

UNKNOWN NUMBER

A text preview lights up:

You make it home okay?

I stop breathing. “Oh shit.”

“I knew it! I freaking knew it!” Blaire hisses triumphantly. “It’s him, isn’t it? Dang girl, now you owe me…”

My thumbs hover over the keypad, shaking. “I can’t look.”

“Juliette,” Blaire demands. “You’ve already broken your human resources policy. Don’t waste an opportunity by being chicken shit about it.”

“But I could get fired,” I whisper.

“Or. He could fall madly in love with you, and you’ll have babies that look like you, and you’ll raise hockey players of your own, and be like Mama Kelce.”

I chew on my bottom lip.

She’s right, I have already broken the rules—there is no going back, is there? Doesn’t mean I can’t feel guilty about it, though. A girl can have doubts, especially when it comes to a man like him; one who’s larger than life and twice as sexy.

I ordered ice cream on our date, for God’s sake.

And not to drip down my naked body so he could lick it off—toeat.Who does that?

The least I could have done was order it after our meal, right?

“Juliette, you better be looking at that text message,” Blaire scolds through the phone.

“I am.”

“What does it say?”

“He’s asking if I made it home okay.”

She leans back against her pillows, grinning. “That’s such a classic.” Then her face and tone get serious. “You respond to thatman right now or we are done, do you hear me? I’m breaking up with you.”

Slowly, I nod, fingers tapping out the most mundane response I can muster. But hey, at least it’s something?

Juliette: I did make it home okay, thank you for asking. Still slightly embarrassed by all the ice cream I ate…

Hold my breath as three dots appear.