He kisses my forehead. “Come on, tell me where to start.”

“Under cars, maybe the landscaping, I guess. He’s hopping around with cats and hawks and mountain lions just waiting to pounce. What if something gets him?” My hands squeeze his.

His lips twitch. “I think we’re safe on the mountain lion front.”

“Either way, we have a situation! And we’re at the vet, and he hates it, and he’s probably super mad at me.”

“We’ll find him. Don’t worry.” He lets my hands go and starts looking around my car. “I have a cracker, Vampire Bill,” he calls out. “Wanna come get it?”

I take a second to consider him on his hands and knees searching for VB and then refocus, jogging to the landscaping near the front of my car.

“Maybe this was a setup,” Blaze says as he steps into the flowerbed to help me. “Maybe he’s hopping back to Chile or Argentina or wherever he’s from.”

I give him a small smile. “The question is, does he have some sexy female parrot waiting for him in a getaway vehicle?”

Blaze looks under a Subaru. “Maybe a drone picked him up.”

I snort. “Amazon does have those package-dropping ones.”

Blaze cups his hands to his mouth. “Jeff Bezos, if you’re here, just come out and no one will get hurt.” He looks over at me and grins. “Just trying to make you laugh.”

I smile…then a big truck zooms past on the highway just fifty yards away. Horror hits. What if he wanders out to the road? All I can see is smashed bird, and I’m headed that way when I hear Blaze shouting.

I flip around.

“Found him!” he yells from a small pine tree to the left, about five feet from my car.

“I never thought to check in the trees! He must have flown up. I bet it took all he had!” I trot over and Blaze holds out his arm, which Bill promptly hops onto.

He nuzzles his head against Blaze’s hand.

“He’s shivering,” Blaze says. Using his arm as a perch for the bird, he tucks him under his varsity jacket.

“Thank you. God, thank you so much. Give him to me.” I reach out.

Blaze is looking at me. “I’ll carry him in with you.”

“You don’t have to. I’m sure you have class. I promise I’ll be extra careful.” Remorse hits me. “I never should have taken my eyes off him. It won’t happen again.”

“I know you’re careful. I know. I just want to help. Let me, Charm.” He looks down at the parrot, who’s poked his head out. “Plus, he likes me.”

He’s never even had a pet.

We stare at each other for a few seconds until the wind picks back up, and then I nod and we head inside.

I get him signed in and we sit down in the waiting room.

“No cats in here—thank God. He hates them,” I say.

“Nice diaper bag,” Blaze says dryly as he looks at the big purse thing I plop at my feet.

“It’s Pen’s. We use it when he travels.” I swallow down sudden nervousness. Here we are, side by side, close, and I can’t think of what to say— “Vampire Bill,” calls out a young female receptionist, and I wave at her. She takes Blaze in, smiles, and blushes. Her eyes glaze over. “Hey…are you Blaze Townsend?”

He nods.

“I’m a huge fan,” she titters.

“Now, at the freaking vet’s office too?” I say under my breath.

He nods at her, rather coolly, and looks down at VB, who currently has his head back out of the jacket and is eyeballing everything. “Can we get this little guy a room?”

She straightens, getting a load of his indifference at her starry eyes. “Sure. Right, come this way, please. Dr. Sally will see you now.”

We get settled and Blaze carefully places him on the silver exam table.

“You two are so cute with your bird,” says the doctor as she comes in, eyes sweeping the room. An older lady with gray hair and glasses, she’s wearing a white coat and a big smile. “Have y’all been dating long? Waylon sweethearts I bet.”

Blaze’s breath hitches, and his voice is soft when he speaks. “She kissed me.”

I start at his declaration and glance at him. He’s staring at me, emotion swirling in his gaze.

“Okay, that’s…nice,” Dr. Sally murmurs as she watches us warily.

I shake my head. “Seriously? Here?”

He gives me a sobering look, his face serious. “You don’t kiss a guy for no good reason, Charm. It meant something. We aren’t over.”

My mouth opens, then I quickly shut it. “You had a date with you.”

“So did you. Bet you didn’t kiss him.” He pauses, his eyes intense. “You’re mine, Charm.”

My heart flutters. What?

The doctor clears her throat. “Um, okay, this is all interesting, but can we get to the bird?”

When she turns around to wash her hands, he leans down and whispers, “Never even bought you a sandwich, but people think we’re together.”

“OMG,” I whisper.

He laughs, and my lips twitch.

“So tell me about the sick parrot,” she says as she walks to Vampire Bill.

“Cold as shit!” he complains loudly as hops around on the table.

“Ah, I remember you.” She looks down at his file. “Little rescue fellow, right?”

I nod and explain his symptoms while Blaze stands next to me. He takes my hand, lacing our fingers together, and I pause before continuing on. She shines a light in his eyes and takes a small sample of the discharge. After a few more routine checks, she closes her penlight. “He’s got a pretty severe eye infection. Luckily, I have drops. I’ll leave them up front for you to get when you check out. Otherwise, he’s a healthy, happy bird.”

“You’re sure?” I ask. “He’s barely been his usual talky self.”

She nods. “The stress of an eye issue is enough to change his normal behavior, just like when a human has a cold.”

I watch as Blaze picks him up and tucks him back under his jacket.

“Is it okay for him to carry the bird like that?” I ask her as we walk out.

She smiles. “Sure. The warmth of his chest is probably extremely comforting.”

Indeed.

We get the drops and walk out. At the car, Blaze helps me get Bill back in his cage and buckled up. Neither one of us is talking, and I’m all nerves.

You’re mine.

He pauses for a second as he stands back up to open my door for me.

“Charisma, about last night—”

I put my hand to his mouth. “Later. I’ll see you tonight,” I say.

He pauses, his eyes searching my face. “Tonight then.”

25

I stare at my reflection in the rearview mirror after I turn off Lady Maxima. I’m pale. With a groan, I open my purse and apply blush to my cheeks then swipe on more lipstick. What else? I grab a bottle of peppermint mist and spritz my hair.

Stepping out of the car, I smooth down my black dress. Short with a plunging neckline, it hugs me like a second skin and screams see you at the club. My hair is in beach waves, flowing down the back of the open dress, and there’s a slit on the side that goes up to my bare upper thighs. Basically, I’m freezing my ass off.

I inhale.

I got this.

My nerves are pulled taut as I take the steps that lead up to his third-story dorm room.

I see a group of football players on the open-air landing ahead eyeballing me, and I pick up my pace in the three-inch heels.

A football player I don’t know, probably one of the underclassmen, lets out a whistle when I reach the top. “Hey, you looking for me? ’Cause I’m available.”

“Zip it,” I say. I don’t have time for testosterone-induced bullshit. My mission is Blaze. We’re going to talk. We’re going to…

I don’t know.

He walks up to me, a big smile on his face. “Aw, don’t be like that. Where you been all my life? My room is right down the hall—”

One of the other guys elbows him in the ribs and whispers something in his ear. I hear my name.

The flirty one’s eyes flare and he holds up his hands. “Ah, sorry, Miss Charisma. Didn’t know who you were or I never would have said that.”

Miss Charisma? WTH. He’s only a few years younger than me.

“No worries. Carry on.” I walk past him and head to Blaze’s door. There’s no sound from the other side, and I let out a sigh of relief. Part of me was worried they’d be having a party, and I’m not up for that.

Mustering up my courage, I knock and wait.

The door flies open and I blink.

Looking magnificent in a rumpled and mussed way, Blaze leans against the doorjamb. He holds a bowl of popcorn and pops a few kernels in his mouth as he takes me in, eyebrow arched.

“You’re late.”

“Ma called me. My brother Mattie is dating a Protestant and she’s spying on him, reading his text messages. I had to hear all about it. The usual.”

“She sounds really into her kids.”

“You have no idea.”

“Yeah.” A ghost of a smile crosses his face, and I bite my lip, realizing he probably never had a pain-in-the-ass mom constantly checking up on him.

I take in his soft T-shirt with a hole in the shoulder, faded jeans, and bare feet.

I want the ground to open up and swallow me. “Obviously, I overdressed.”