“Well, let’s just say she told him that he would never amount to anything in life and would probably live with his mother forever because no girl was ever going to love him,” Saff told me.

“You said I can’t hit someone unless they hit me first,” our girl said. “So, I used my words.”

With that, she grabbed a bag of chips and practically skipped upstairs. Where she would likely free Dominic from his enclosure, put him in his diaper, then let him sit with her while she read for hours.

“In our defense, we really have hammered home how she needs to use her words,” Saff said, wincing. “How could we know that her words could completely dismantle someone’s identity?” She reached for her own bag of chips, pulling it open. “And, to be fair, she probably wasn’t wrong.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. “But we should probably explain that she has to get her point across without reducing someone to tears.” At Saff’s narrowed eyes, I added, “So she at least doesn’t get kicked out of school.”

“Fine. But I’m not grounding her.”

“Like it would be any kind of punishment to make her stay in her room. Where everything she loves is.”

“True,” she agreed. “So, are you cooking?”

“Chicken parm. You gonna keep me company?”

“I have a better idea,” she said, putting the bag of chicken back into the fridge.

“What’s that?”

“We order pizza and read that new book that came in yesterday.”

“I like the way you think.”

XX

Acknowledgements

<3

As always, a huge thank-you to Gabi, Ashley, Sonya, and Cherie for helping make this book shine.

About the Author

JESSICA GADZIALA IS the USA TODAY Bestselling author of over 100 steamy romance novels featuring all sorts of twisty and turny plots, strong heroines, lovable side characters, steam, and epic HEAs.

She lives in New Jersey with her parrots, dogs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, her bearded dragon named Ravioli, and way too many houseplants.

Also by Jessica Gadziala

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