“Hey,” Fox says suddenly. He barks the word, drawing the entire room’s attention, but his gaze slowly slides from the screen to Joy. His face is completely neutral as he considers her. Strangely, she can’t look away. She isn’t sure how long he holds her captive like that, but it’s beginning to feel excessive.

Joy’s lips quirk into a smile. She can’t read Fox like she can with Malcolm, but that buzzing exhilaration from earlier begins to return. Something is coming. He’s planning their next move. She’s perfectly fine waiting for him to say whatever is brewing in that mind of his.

His lips part and he inhales before asking, “Which onscreen couple do you think has the best chemistry?”

“Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger in Ten Things I Hate About You,” she says, not missing a beat. “Oh, and Max and Kyle from Living Single. I remember thinking if romance wasn’t going to make me feel like that, I didn’t want it. Which should have been a huge neon sign for later, but you know, hindsight and all that.”

“I love that movie,” Summer says with a nod. “I think Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a good example too.”

Malcolm sucks in a breath. “Nooo—”

“See now, that’s different,” Joy says.

“Here she goes.” Malcolm pauses the movie.

“Shut up, I’m right,” Joy says playfully. She pulls her legs up onto the couch to sit on her knees, neatly arranging her dress around her so it doesn’t snag. “Chemistry and sexual tension aren’t mutually exclusive. If I see sexual tension, I can recognize it. Like in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The yearning in that movie is off the charts. I’ve never seen it in real life, though.”

Joy studied movies because she had to. She literally thought everyone was making sexual attraction up. She’d heard countless people describe it, read literally hundreds of romance novels—there’s never any feelings low in her belly, no shivers down her spine. She doesn’t have to cross her legs at the sight of veiny forearms, perky breasts, bubble butts, or perfect abs. It just doesn’t happen. The day she realized it was, in fact, a very real thing absolutely blew her mind.

Summer asks, “This might be kind of crass, but have you ever been to a strip club?”

Joy nods. “Athletes, every one of them. Their bodies are so strong, it’s incredible.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re talking about girls, right? At male strip clubs it’s way different. I think you’d see it there.”