Page 17 of Monster's Heart

Cool it.

But no amount of thought could stop me from smiling as I walked beside Sten down the path through the forest we weren’t supposed to be in. Everything about our situation was forbidden and unlikely. I mean, he was a student who lived in the forest no one was supposed to even enter because of how dangerous it was according to the rules at Blackthorn, and I was a Witch with no powers to speak of, in danger of failing. But somehow, we seemed to fit, and that crush on him I’d been denying was now in full bloom.

“So, where are you from?” I asked, and he slowed his pace to stay beside me.

“From the realm of Asgard,” he replied.

“That explains the panty-melting accent,” I muttered.

He stopped, head canted in that sexy confused expression he often wore when I was rambling. Then he barked a laugh, and I felt my face flame.

Shit.

Why did I say that?

I bit my lip, but Sten lifted his hands and tugged it free, smoothing his thumb over my bruised flesh.

“Don’t do that, Luna.”

“Um, can we just forget I said that?”

“A hot as fuck woman says my accent is panty-melting and you want me to forget it? Unfuckinglikely, Luna,” he said, and I gasped, mouth hanging open.

Did Sten just call me hot as fuck?

I gulped.

“But let’s talk about this accent thing,” he said, taking my hand and wrapping it in his big one. “What about you? The way you say tawk and cawfee instead of talk and coffee is fucking adorable. Hell, I practically have to walk bent over whenever you say anything to me,” he said and damn, there I went again.

Swoon.

“Really? Oh, um, well, I grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey. It’s not my fault I have an accent,” I said, grinning unapologetically.

He thinks I’m hot.

And I give him boners.

Oh, my freaking gods.

“Well, my thanks to Bergen County, New Jersey, then. Your accent is incredible.”

“You think my accent is incredible?”

“Oh, yes. I think it suits you, Luna.”

I smiled, pleased for absolutely no reason, but it kind of felt like a compliment when he’d said that. I wasn’t very used to compliments. And though my mother had told me to stay away from the Monsters at Blackthorn when I received my acceptance letter, I had no intention of listening to her. In fact, my gut feeling was that she must have never met a Monster like Sten. If she had, I might never have been born.

Too soon, we arrived at my door, and I noticed a few students in the hallways casting glances at us. I wished I was still wearing his shirt. If I was, that would have made me a thief because I would never return it. It would have been nice, though. Something to remind me of him when we were apart.

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

I hesitated before turning to face him. It was way too soon, too new to feel like this. But my heart squeezed as I clutched the doorknob. Technically, he was not allowed on this floor, but rules and me never got along very well. My heart stuttered in my chest. I didn’t want to leave him.

“What’s your first class?” he asked, his big hand gentle on my hip.

“Oh, I have Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Wright at eight,” I grumbled, hating that early morning class.

“Not a fan of grunglewogs, gardennips, or hairgeezers?” he asked, a smile on his handsome face as he named three particularly gnarly little creatures we’d already studied in class.

---