“Seems like two thousand,” he mumbled as they untangled themselves and sat upright.

Juliet cleared her throat. “I’m sorry,” she said, scanning the scattered pillows and the puzzle pieces on the floor. “I…I was able to rent your old apartment. Isn’t that great? But there’s one tiny problem. I have to stay just one more night. If that’s okay.”

“And I came with her,” Vivienne said, looking uncomfortable, “to see if you guys wanted to hang out…but maybe that’s not such a good idea.”

Tessa got up as gracefully as she could, her legs unsteady, her lips still tingling. Leo seemed unfazed, coming to stand next to her.

Juliet hitched a thumb toward the spare bedroom. “I’ll just—I’ll just be reading. My book. In my room.” Juliet glanced from Tessa to Leo, whose perfect hair, Tessa noticed, was a little mussed.

“And I’ll just take off and see you guys tomorrow,” Viv said.

“Stay,” Tessa said, trying to sound convincing. “We were just going to watch TV. Right, Leo?”

“Right,” he said but not with much conviction.

“Oh. Okay,” Juliet said. “Well, I’ll go put my bag away, and maybe I’ll join you.”

“I’ll help you,” Viv said, wisely following her down the hall.

That left them facing each other in dead silence. Except for the tiniest little meow.

Cosette crawled out from under the couch and walked out to where they were standing.

“Oh, no. She was under the couch,” Tessa said.

“Is that a problem?”

“Well, do you think she got a little squished under there? With us…on top?”

Cosette plopped herself down on the floor right in front of them, lifted her back leg into the air, and began to give herself a bath.

“She’s basically telling us she couldn’t care less what we do.” He turned and took her hand. “And did your sister just refer to the spare room as her room?”

“You don’t mind if they stay?”

“I’ll pick a movie.” He paused, deadpan. “But is it okay if I choose one with murder and mayhem?”

Tessa shook her head and chuckled. Every day, she seemed to like Leo more and more. And every day, the barriers she’d put up to protect her heart seemed to be tumbling down. This was getting even more twisted than his silly puzzle game.

…

Leo walked straight into the upstairs bathroom and turned on the shower. Standing under the pounding stream, he tried to beat thoughts of Tessa out of his mind.

He’d never thought she was ugly.

He’d always thought she was fricking gorgeous. All that thick wavy hair; those big wide eyes that could never quite hide what she was really feeling. She didn’t have the ability to hide her emotions behind a smile like he did.

She wasn’t hard-hearted, cold, or emotionless. She was melted chocolate.