Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 448

I woke before the sun, my mind made up. I had spent half the night scrolling through my phone, and some of the posts I read said that the fastest way to a man's heart was through his stomach. I did not know what Sparrow liked, but I would make him breakfast, a surprise, something so good he would have to notice me. I bathed and dressed quietly and made my way down to the kitchen before anyone else stirred, and I was pulling out eggs and vegetables and everything I could find when Scarlett walked in.

She tried to take it from me and I lost my temper and snapped at her.

The silence that followed was so loud I heard my own heartbeat. Scarlett stood frozen, and the look on her face was one I had never seen before, shock and hurt and something broken underneath. I should have felt satisfied. Instead, panic flooded me. If Sparrow heard about this, if he saw me as some angry, shouting woman, every plan I had made would turn to ash. And Scarlett, for all her love, had a mouth on her. She could poison him against me without even trying. I had to fix this, had to play my part.

And it was so easy.

I thanked Scarlett and the moment I was out of sight, I let the smile die off my face. But I had not counted on Sparrow.

He was coming down the stairs, and the sight of him stopped me cold. He looked even more handsome than he had the day before, if such a thing were possible, his hair damp from a shower, his jaw sharp, and for a second I just stood there staring at him, imagining what it would feel like to be held in those arms, to have that mouth on mine the way it had been on Scarlett's.

But to my surprise, he smiled at me. A real smile, warm and almost gentle.

When he reached out, patted my head a little, and rolled the soft part of my cheek between his index finger and his thumb, it was a touch so affectionate and unexpected that I forgot how to breathe.

He walked out, and I stood there with my hand pressed to my cheek where his fingers had been, my heart racing, and I realized I was smiling like an idiot. So this was what it felt like when a man like Sparrow looked at you, really looked at you. Hope bloomed in my chest so strong it hurt. I did not know what had changed his mind, what had made him decide to be warm, but I did not care. I was going to make him open up more and more, day by day, until there was no wall left between us at all.