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drowning.
    “So, does the invitation for dinner still stand?” Liam asks as he hits me with those stunning eyes again. “Because I’m starved.”
    Me, too. I just didn’t realize how much before I saw him.
    Never one to let an opportunity pass, Josh answers for me. “Absolutely, Liam. Elissa would love for you to come.” He smiles over his double entendre.
    I grab his sleeve. “Uh, Joshua? May I speak to you for a moment please? Excuse us, Liam.”
    I pull him down to the bottom of the stairs. “What are you doing?”
    “Getting you a date.”
    “I don’t want a date.”
    “Yes you do. You just won’t admit it. I love you, but I’ve been the only man you’ve seen naked in months, and that’s only because I accidentally sent you dick pics
intended for someone else.”
    How do I tell him that all my alarm bells are going off about Liam? That some part of me thinks he’s more than just hot, and therefore, dangerous? I can’t even figure out how
I’m feeling, let alone find a way to articulate it.
    Josh is looking at me with concern. “Hey, I was just following your lead. When your jaw hits the floor over a guy, I play wingman. Is that not what’s happening here?”
    I run my fingers through my hair. “You’re the best, Josh, really. Dick pics aside. I’m just not sure I’m up to this tonight.”
    Josh glances over at Liam. “Well, let’s at least have dinner. Then he’ll go to his show and you’ll go home, and if you want to jump him in the future, you can give him
your number. All good?”
    I nod. I guess there’s no harm in that.
    As we head back over to the stairs, Liam and Josh start up an easy conversation about sports. They look like they’ve known each other for years.
    In some ways, I think that’s what’s throwing me about Liam. We’ve just met, but some part of me feels like I’ve always known him. And that part is freaking the hell
out.
    Ten minutes later, we’re sitting in Gino’s on 42nd street, debating which pizza to get.
    Liam frowns at the menu. “Uh . . . you guys choose. I’m not fussy. I’ll eat anything.”
    “That’s good,” says Josh. “Because Elissa is so damn fussy, she’ll only be truly happy if they let her in the kitchen to make her own.”
    I keep my focus down on the menu. “Just because I like things a certain way doesn’t mean I’m fussy, Joshua Kane.”
    “Actually,” Josh says. “Liking things a certain way is the definition of fussy. But let’s be honest. You take fussy to a whole new level with your food ratios.”
    “Ratios?” Liam asks, and nudges my foot under the table. “I’m intrigued. Tell me more.”
    I shake my head. “Nope.”
    “Aw, come on.”
    Josh chuckles. “I think she’s concerned that if we tell you about her obsession with food proportions, you’ll run a mile.”
    My face heats.
Yes, he probably would.
    “Not likely. I’m too hungry to run anywhere.” Liam tries to catch my eye. When I look up at him, he smiles. “Please. I want to know.”
    I sigh and put my menu down. “When I eat, I like the ratios of all the ingredients to be equal. So, if there are four things on the plate, say, meat and three veggies, I need a little bit
of each of them in every mouthful.”
    “She calls it ‘The Theory of Yummability,’ ” Josh says. “It’s fascinating to watch. She carves everything up with surgical precision, then loads the tiny
pieces onto her fork. It would be artistic if it wasn’t so fucking weird.”
    Liam shrugs. “I don’t find it weird. I think it’s cool. I have a similar thing with chips and dips. I need to have exactly the right ratio of dip on the chip, otherwise you
can’t taste them equally.”
    “Yes!” I say, and sit forward. “That’s my point. It’s all about subtle combinations. Why put something in your mouth unless you’re really going to enjoy it,
right?”
    The way Liam’s eyes widen makes me realize that statement could be taken a whole other way.
    He gives me a slow