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“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again!” I told her.

Dair was shaking his head at me. “How do you not get sued more?” he asked me, sounding like an exasperated parent.

“Fuck if I know. Ro, are you going to sue me?” I asked her.

“Not today,” she replied.

I sent her an affectionate smile that she didn’t look up to appreciate.

When I turned back to Dair, he was studying me with an odd look, like I’d done something out of character. I ignored it. “So tell me about your WIP,” I said, staring up the ceiling. “Shoot some ideas off me.”

We brainstormed for about an hour. I watched Ro while we worked, but she never glanced up once. Little miss professional.

I started sharing some detailed, juicy, shocking gossip with Dair just to get her to react. “They have to go to strip clubs so he can get hard enough to fuck her,” I finished telling him a random story about a dysfunctional couple I knew.

Dair was shaking his head as I watched Ro for a proper reaction.

Fourteen seconds passed while she completely ignored me.

Yes, fourteen. I counted.

When she finally looked at me, I could see her internal struggle not to say something.

“Yes?” I asked her with an innocent smile.

She shook her head and went back to work.

“You look at me like you’ve thought of the worst insult possible and you’re just choosing not to say it,” I observed.

She smiled blandly. “Self-control is easier for some than others,” she noted.

I studied her. “What does that mean? Is it just me, Dair, or is she plotting my murder? Behave yourself, Ro.”

“Perish the thought,” she returned without missing a beat.

I grinned.

My phone dinged a text at me. It was a video sent from me, from my laptop messages to my phone messages.

I squinted my eyes at her. “Did you just send me a video from my own computer?”

“It’s very important; you should watch it right away.”

I played the video. It was of a gray cat with folded ears hugging a stuffed pink bunny.

Aww. Wasn’t that sweet? How strange and random. Why would she send me something sweet right now?

Aha! There it was. As the video kept playing, the cat’s hugging turned into a solid maul. I watched, bemused, as it proceeded to tear the pink bunny’s head clean off.

“Tell me how you really feel,” I told her.

We shared a smile.

Oh, she was just too much fun. I was tickled.

Dair was looking at me strangely, and I ignored it.

Nothing to see here.