Page 10 of Scoring a Sweet Thing

He looks at me with a blank expression, and I give the bag a shake, urging him to pick one.

“Come on! I need a third one.”

Brows furrowing in confusion again, he leans forward slightly and picks out a marshmallow and hands it over, but I don’t accept it right away.

“You’ve gotta name it,” I tell him.

“Name it?”

“Yeah. I like to name my marshmallows. Give them little personalities, you know? Like this one.” I pick one up. “This is Tony. He owns a construction company.”

“And that one?” He points to the other one.

“Ariel. She’s a watercolor artist.”

He tugs his bottom lip between his teeth. The corner of his mouth twitches, and then he looks at the marshmallow in his hand.

“Roxy, and she’s a tattoo artist,” he says after a beat.

I grin and push my mug across the table. “Plonk ’er in!”

He drops it into my mug, and his shoulders shake with laughter. I throw Tony and Ariel in the mug, too, and give it a little stir.

I love that he indulged in my fun hobby without calling me weird.

Five stars to Bailey.

“So, what made you download the app?” I ask before taking a sip of my drink.

“My best friend made me download it.” He lets out a sigh. “He’s gone on a cruise today for fourteen days, and he’s worried that I won’t leave the house except for work.”

“Why won’t you leave the house?”

“Because I don’t like the outside.”

“Are you agoraphobic?” Panic rises up inside me. I hope he’s not because I will feel like such a dickbag for asking him to meet me here, in such a busy place too.

“No, not at all. I just… How do I say this without sounding weird… I prefer being at home. It’s my safe space. I like gaming and drawing and just being at home.”

I let out a relieved breath. “I can understand that. I’m on the road so much that it can be difficult sometimes because my environment is always changing.”

“I couldn’t think of anything worse than having to travel constantly.”

“It’s not too bad. I’m so used to it now.” I shrug. “What do you do for work?”

“I’m a tattoo artist.”

“Wow! That explains all the cool ink.”

“Yeah.” He laughs, but it trails off. His adorable frown is back, and I want to reach over the table and smooth out the crease between his brows with my thumb. “Are you sure you want me to come with you? I’m not exactly…” He waves his hand. “You know.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“Is it black tie?”

“Yeah.”

He grimaces. “I can’t hide my tattoos.”