BooksBarbecue
Back The Seat Filler Save as PDF
Chapters (39)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  38. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  39. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As if he could read my mind, Noah asked, “Is that something that interests you? Trying to work through it? Or are you happy with the way things are?”

“I’ve never been happy that I’m like this—I just resigned myself to it. It’s been this shameful, dark, scary thing that I’ve been carrying around for a long time. And overreacting the way that I have, it’s made me avoid romance and men altogether. I would like things to be different.” I didn’t want to be alone for the rest of my life.

Noah nodded, his expression serious. I liked how calmly he seemed to be taking this in, how matter-of-factly he was processing it and looking for a solution. Which I supposed was a very male thing to do, but I appreciated the approach.

“Then I think I could help you.”

“And how are you going to do that?” I asked. Run me through meditation exercises? Find me the world’s leading expert on . . . whatever the name was for my kissing phobia that I couldn’t remember? Knowing the kind of guy he was, he’d probably insist on paying for my sessions and I’d have to tell him no and then we’d argue and—

He interrupted my train of thought and said, “Let me help you get over your fear. You could kiss me.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I don’t know why that was the last thing I expected him to say, given how our conversation had been going, but it was. A bolt of fear spiked inside me. “Oh.” I was going to ask him if he was serious, but I could see from his face that he was.

He said, “We’re friends, and I want to help you. Not to mention that I’m probably the best guy you could pick for a project like this. I have kissed a lot—and I mean a lot—of women. Both personally and professionally.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t sound quite so proud of that,” I said.

“I’m just giving you my CV so that you understand why I’m the best candidate for this job. I’m perfect for it—I can be whoever you want me to be. I could even go put the Malec costume back on.”

“Oh. No. Don’t do that.” It would be too weird. Right? But maybe it would work? Could I picture myself kissing Malec?

Little bit, yes. I could.

But I couldn’t ask him to do that. Or maybe I could. Or it would be a step too far. Maybe it would stress me out even worse, because I would know he wasn’t actually Malec, so it would be weird if he was pretending like he was.

On the other hand, I had really, really liked him in that costume.