Page 22 of Ten Kisses

"I did bring you this. You might have to share it. Look how much." She opened the box, and he looked inside.

"Whoa, what's all that, white chocolate?"

"Yes, and there's more. I have it stacked," she said. "There's a ton of chocolate here. It's from troubleshooting that recipe with Brian. This is all good chocolate. I put some other kinds in there, too, some dark and caramel to mix it up for you. There's just an abundance of the white today. I figure you can take it to Phillip and the guys if you don't want that much. I want you to taste it right now. It's really good."

"I want to, but my hands are still all dusty. I need to go wash them first."

Molly opened it and reached in as soon as he said that. There were a few small pieces of wax paper between some of the chocolate, and she expertly picked up a small bite of chocolate using a piece of that paper.

"Here," she said, holding it out for him as she closed the box one-handed. "Look, here… it's just one bite. I'll hand it to you. I'm not even touching it." She held up the chocolate, and Salem ducked and took it into his mouth. He touched her elbow to steady her arm as he did it, but he made the whole maneuver quickly.

Molly Kennedy was so beautiful.

She was irresistible.

She was sweet and precious, and now there she was, blinking up at him and hand-feeding him chocolate. It was delicious and she was a sight to behold, and the whole moment felt overwhelming.

"I hope you didn't feed that guy," he said, like an idiot. He clamped his mouth shut.

"What?" she said, squinting at him.

"Nothing."

"No, say it."

"If you didn't hear me, it's better."

"Please say it. If you don't, I'm going to think it's something bad about the chocolate."

"You know better. I'm talking about handing it to me, putting it in my mouth. You said that dude was in your apartment that whole time."

"So was Kat. So was Darren."

"Do you feed those people chocolate?"

"If you're asking if they eat my chocolate, then yes. We all ate it today."

She wasn't giving him a straight answer.

"I wasn't asking if they tasted your chocolate."

"Did I feed it to them with my own hands? Is that what you're asking?"

"Yes."

"No, I didn't."

"Good," he said.

"Thanks, Dad."

"I'm sorry. Thanks for handing me the chocolate."

"Did you like it?" she asked.

"It's amazing," he said, savoring the last bits of it as it dissolved in his mouth. "Why did you have to tweak this? What could have possibly been wrong with it?"

"Nothing was wrong with it, Brian was just looking for a specific flavor profile to go with his recipe. I think we added a few drops of almond oil to the final batch."

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