Page 13 of All In

Me: Aren’t you paying attention?

Me: I kissed a stranger!

Me: I walked up to a man I did not know, put my hand on his body and my lips on his mouth.

Me: What is wrong with me?

Clover: Did it work?

Me: The kiss was short. But amazing.

Clover: Good to know.

Clover: But did it work in hiding you from the creep?

Me: It actually did.

Clover: Where are you now?

Me: Getting a snack with Leo.

Clover: Is Leo the kissing stranger’s name?

Me: It is. We moved out of the main hall so I could explain the situation.

Clover: Costume?

Me: Captain America.

Clover: Sad pleather variety?

Me: Oh, no. This one cost money. I’d wager it’s as good as the original movie ones.

Clover: Nice.

Clover: Is he hot?

Me: Gotta go, he’s heading back my way.

I shove my phone back into the pocket of my dress. Because yes, of course, I added pockets. They’re hidden enough to not take away from the authenticity.

After Leo gets settled next to me, placing our items on the small round table, he looks at me.

And I get lost looking at him. He is just really attractive. He has kind eyes. They soft and warm and evidently mesmerizing because I realize he’s said more than one thing to me since he sat down and I have missed everything.

I shake my head. “I promise I have actual manners. Truly, I do.”

He laughs. “I was just asking if you were sure you didn’t want any actual food?”

“No, I’m good. I had a protein bar earlier.”

He makes a face. “That is not real food, but we’ll worry about that later. Story time.”

“There’s a guy. Eric. We met at this con last year. Our costumes matched up so went to some panels together. We’ve been texting since, and it turns out he’s— ” I search for a word that captures it without making this stranger think I’m exaggerating for sympathy. “Well, he’s a lot. In a bad way. He’s said some things that crossed a line, and I really did not want to run into him today, and you were just standing there, and my sister had this whole if he finds you, kiss a hot stranger plan that I genuinely never thought I’d use, and then I saw you and well, here we are.”

“I’m the hot stranger in this scenario?”

“Correct.”