Page 72 of Fractured Ice

I turn around.

Knox is standing at the front of the booth with a stack of cash that is, objectively, nearly as impressive as Ethan's was.

He sets it on the table.

"I'd like a kiss," he says.

Emma stares at him. Then at the money. Then at him.

"No," she says.

"I'm a paying customer."

"The booth is closed."

"It’s open."

"The second I saw you I decided to close it."

"You hadn't yet."

"It doesn’t matter."

"Emma." Knox's voice is completely calm. "It'll be worth your while."

Emma picks up the closed sign, holds it directly in front of his face, sets it on the table, and walks out of the booth.

Knox watches her go.

He stands there for a long moment with his stack of cash and his expression, which looks, for the first and only time I've ever seen it on his face, like something genuinely knocked the wind out of him.

I look at Ethan.

Ethan looks at me.

Neither of us has any idea what just happened.

Which is notable, because between the two of us, we've been watching Knox Walker navigate women since freshman year, and we have never once seen him look like that.

The fair continues around us, loud and sunny and entirely indifferent.

"That was—" I start.

"Yeah," Ethan says.

We both look at where Emma disappeared into the crowd.

"I don't—" I try again.

"Me neither," he says.

We stand there.

Somewhere in the hedge behind us, the March sun is still warm. My hair is still a mess. I'm still turned on in a way that has no good resolution currently available to it. Ethan is standing close enough that I'm very aware of his presence, and Knox is standing at an empty kissing booth with a stack of cash and an expression I don't have a file for.

“I have to go check on Emma,” I say.

“Can we talk?”