Page 41 of Ten Kisses

"It's about Sadie's brother. Salem."

My heart dropped when he said it because his face was serious and it looked like he had bad news.

"Sadie's brother."

"Yeah," I said. "What about him?"

My brother leaned against the wall. "Well, there was this girl that he knew growing up, Isabel Love."

"Yes. I know who you're talking about."

"Well, recently she…"

"She married someone. I know that, too," I said, nodding and wishing he would get to the point.

"I, uh, Salem is my brother-in-law and I love him, but I thought I saw him looking at you yesterday when we were at your graduation lunch."

"Okayyy…"

"I did see him looking at you."

John-Michael spoke like he wasn't happy.

"Everybody was looking at me. It was my graduation lunch."

"No, Molly, I saw the way Salem was looking at you, and you don't understand what I'm saying."

"No, I don't understand what you're saying John-Michael. Please tell me."

"Salem has been waiting for this girl for his whole life. If he tries to rebound right now, I don't want it to be with my little sister. I hate to put it bluntly, but he was looking at you like a man looks at a woman, and I just wanted to warn you about it so that you could steer clear of him for a while."

"Why would you want me to steer clear of him? Salem and I are friends. We hang out all the time."

"I know what I saw yesterday, and he's probably in a fragile state, so just please, Molly, listen to me. Please keep some distance for a little while."

"Have you been talking to Sara?"

"What? No, why?"

"You know why. Did she put you up to this?"

"Put me up to what, Molly?"

"Sara's writing a whole book about how she and I are supposed to marry twins who we meet at Camp Eden. She's got a romance novel about it. She would be devastated if I would end up with Salem."

"End up with Salem? Don't even say that."

"What is your problem?" I asked, feeling hurt and offended.

"The problem is that I am married to the love of my life who happens to be Salem's sister. You can't go have fun with this guy, Molly. This one is off-limits. Salem is in a fragile state right now, and I promise, a casual relationship with my sister would not work out well for him. You cannot do that. You have to promise me you won't, Molly—even if he pursues you. It will cause issues within my own marriage if you get involved with Salem. Sadie would be devastated."

"Sadie would be devastated, you would be devastated, Sara would be devastated. How is it everyone's devastated when I'm happy?"

He laughed when I said that. I could tell he tried to hold it back but it was uncontrollable. It made me feel so angry inside and I had to work to control my facial expression and stay calm.

"Molly, just please hear me about this. You can't… wait, has Salem already tried to talk to you in that way?" he asked, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

"What if he has?" I asked, feeling nervous under his scrutiny but too stubborn to back down.

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