“Your hair,” he said, with a mouthful of milk. He swallowed and then said, “I’ve never seen it down before. I like it.”

The look in his eyes was soft and appreciative, and it made my stomach do somersaults. I found my brain wanting to head into a sarcastic place where, to protect myself and my feelings, I’d say, “I didn’t do it for you,” but that was untrue. I’d totally done it for him and I’d wanted him to notice and I was glad that he did.

So I just said, “Thanks.” Then I cleared my throat and told him, “There are things you could eat besides cereal, you know.”

He shook his head. “It’s my favorite food.”

“Cereal is not anybody’s favorite food.”

“I know I should probably say it’s something sophisticated like sushi, but it is definitely cereal.” He drank the rest of the milk in his bowl before placing it in the sink. Then he started opening upper cabinets. And every single one of them was filled, top to bottom, side to side, with boxes of different brands of cereals.

“You’re some kind of weird cereal hoarder,” I said in awe. I liked that he wasn’t this stereotypical macho movie star but had these quirky and nerdy sides that he let me see. Because those were the parts of him I related to.

And liked.

“It’s not hoarding if I eat it all. Which I will.” He closed the cabinet doors and said, “I thought we should watch a movie tonight.”

“What? Why?”

“Come with me.” He stopped in front of me, offering his hand. My heart jumped up into my throat in both surprise and anticipation. He’d never done that before. But to be fair, our entire situation consisted of things happening between us that had never happened to me before. I slid my hand into his and loved the way his closed around mine, how strong and warm he felt.

I was holding hands with Noah Douglas. It was like my brain couldn’t process that this was actually happening. I wouldn’t want to be overly dramatic or anything, but my teenage self literally would have died if she could have seen what I was doing right now.

Tingling shivers were running up and down my arm as he led me into a room I hadn’t gone in before. There was a couch and a TV mounted to the wall, and other than yet another dog bed that Magnus was currently occupying, that was it.

He sat and pulled me down next to him. Really close next to him.