“If?” Ian’s car is . . . well, Ian’s car. But Hannah plucks the keys from his fingers and slides in on the driver’s side.

“Hypothetically,” he continues, settling for the passenger seat.

“Hypothetically?”

He looks straight ahead. Swallows. Swallows again. “If I were to ask. Hypothetically. What would you say?”

There is a thick, suspicious silence on the driver’s side of the car. Not at all auspicious. And when it pulls his gaze in Hannah’s direction, her expression isn’t serious, or annoyed, or anything else that he can discern.

“I guess you’ll have to try and see,” is all she says.

Ian presses his lips together and smiles. “I guess I’ll have to try and see.”

But her free hand slides into his immediately as they drive away, and he thinks that maybe, maybe, he knows what the answer will be. And maybe, maybe, he should ask soon.

So they pick up Thai that night. And Ian doesn’t look at his phone again.

Acknowledgments

Like 99.9 percent of my writing output, these novellas originated as fan fiction, and their journey to what they have become involved approximately 999 wonderful people. First of all, each novella started out as a gift for a friend: thank you to Becca for the perfect roommates prompt, to Marie for liking small spaces, and to Celia and Sheppy for being into . . . polar bears? Yes, polar bears. Also, infinite thanks to Celia, Kate, and Jen for beta reading the original fics—and to Jen for slogging through the expanded versions. Guys, I do not deserve you and I know it.

My unparalleled agent, Thao Le, had the idea to adapt the fics into a series and guided me through the process; my brilliant editor, Sarah Blumenstock, made them as good as they could be; my beloved friend Lilith created not one, not two, but three perfect covers. And on top of my amazing Berkley team (Tina Joell, Tara O’Connor, Bridget O’Toole, Liz Sellers, and Jess Brock . . . ILY GUYS), I had a fantastic team at PRH audio (Laura Wilson, Karen Dziekonski, Katherine Punia, Heather Dalton, Brisa Robinson, and Becca Stumpf). And and aaaand, I cannot forget my film agents, Jasmine Lake and Mirabel Michelson, or Cindy Hwang, Tawanna Sullivan, Penguin Creative, and the entire production team at Berkley, who constantly work behind the scenes to make everything better. Like I said: 999 wonderful people, and that’s before getting to Andrea, Jess, and Jenn at SDLA, who are consistently The Best, and, of course, all the friends who tirelessly listen to me whine: my Grems, my Berkletes, my fellow 2021 debuts, my Reylos, my Edgy Ladies, and every single person who has taken the time to read, listen to, and spread the word about my books. I am, let’s be honest, shockingly lucky to be surrounded with such amazing and talented people, and incredibly privileged that they put up with me.

Last, and also least, I would NOT like to thank my cat. (See? This is what happens when you pee on the books I write, Hux.)