Sweet Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

salty and sweet. I’m hoping they still have a crunch, but it’s a new recipe idea, so I can’t be sure.”
    I have no idea why I just explained all of that to him, and I utterly loathe that I’ve now initiated a conversation. I put the pan on the stove, grab the edges of the parchment paper, pull it out along with the brownies, and set them on a wire rack to cool.
    “Can I try one of those?” he asks.
    I can actually hear the chocolate-lust in his voice.
    “No!” I snap.
    “Why?”
    “Because they’re mine.”
    “What are you, five?” he accuses.
    I realize that on some level I am acting like a five-year-old. I made the brownies for other people to eat; it’s not as if I can enjoy them myself. But this guy hasn’t done anything but antagonize me since the moment we met, and if he tried the recipe and offered any criticism, I’d have to bash his head in with the brownie tray. Then blood would get all over the already-messy kitchen.
    I’m saved from further conversation when the doorbell rings and he turns towards it.
    “It’s my door to answer!” I bark.
    Taylor just shrugs as if he’s totally unaffected by my attitude and leans back against the countertop. I walk off to the entryway and throw the door back without even checking to see who it is first.
    Miko is on the other side of it, looking gorgeous but also sort of as if she just left an outdoor music festival.
    Honestly, when did macramé become a thing again?
    “Did you just come back from Burning Man?” I ask as she walks past me into the apartment.
    She turns towards me with a somber expression.
    “It’s too much, right? I knew it was, but I couldn’t help myself.” She lets out a long sigh, as if she’s about to admit something truly upsetting. “Dude, I think I’m finally too old for Urban Outfitters. It used to be just a little edgy, but now everything there is like half-shirts and acid washed and I’m just always going to be too—”
    “Asian?” I tease as I follow her back to the kitchen.
    She throws me an annoyed look over her shoulder.
    “No, short. I was going to say I’ll always be too short to pull it off.”
    “Six of one, half a dozen of the other.” I can’t help but smirk at her.
    Miko doesn’t break stride as she pulls her giant shoulder bag off of her arm and lets it fall to the floor with a thud.
    “Ooh, you’re extra grouchy today. Why is that?”
    No sooner is the question out of her mouth than she rounds the corner into the kitchen and sees Taylor hovering over the brownies.
    “Ahh.” She smiles at me as if she’s got me all figured out.
    “I am not extra anything, I—”
    Taylor turns towards us, already chewing. He’s holding a brownie the size of his hand and wearing an unrepentant expression.
    “I can’t be held responsible,” he tells me before I can even open my mouth to yell. “It’s all my favorite food baked together in one pan,” he says almost desperately. “It’s like kryptonite.”
    Miko rushes forward to inspect the cooling rack.
    “How are they?” she asks, already cutting herself a square.
    It actually takes me a second to find the words, because I’m so shocked by their total lack of manners.
    Who eats someone else’s baked goods without being invited to do so?
    I open my mouth to rip into them just as Taylor actually sighs into his next bite. “They’re incredible. Possibly the greatest thing to ever happen to my mouth.”
    My lips snap closed.
    How do you scold someone who just gave you a compliment like that? I want to, based on principle, but I can’t do it. Because truthfully, if potato chips and chocolate are his kryptonite, then people liking my recipes is mine. Taylor’s smile kicks up to one side as he chews, and a single perfect dimple appears. He looks from Miko to me.
    “Well, there was that model last summer—”
    “Big-Lips Chloe?” Miko asks between bites.
    “The very same.” He answers her but looks at me. “So this was, I guess, the second