Page 30 of Ten Kisses

Salem's thoughts went to the conversation he had with God only moments ago, and he laughed. He focused on his reflection in the mirror. He was grinning constantly, and he realized that he felt a physical change, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Salem had thought about Isabel meeting someone before, and he thought he would be devastated by the news, but it was the opposite. He felt peace like he had never felt before. He was truly happy for Isabel and thankful that she had found someone. Selfishly, he was excited beyond belief. The freedom to pursue Molly Kennedy made him giddy. He wondered if she would respond to him. He wondered so many things about her.

He had to school his expression and his emotions before he went back out there to interact with his brother and Addie.

Chapter 11

Molly

Two weeks later

~

Graduation

I was anxious to be near Salem.

I had been busy the last couple of weeks, and so had he. I had a lot going on with school, and I was getting new customers every day. We had seen each other a few times lately, but there had always been other people around. I had kissed him once or twice, but it was always rushed because his brother was usually in the next room.

Something had changed with Salem, though. I could tell that he looked at me differently. He texted me differently, too. We had been talking to each other, having a few exchanges every night. He would check in with me and tell me goodnight. We had never done that before. Salem used to always have something to ask me about the house when he called, and now he called for no reason. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was starting to like me.

I would see him in just a few minutes.

It was my graduation day, and the ceremony had already taken place. My immediate family were the only ones who sat through the ceremony. I didn't even invite Salem or anyone besides my siblings, parents, and grandparents.

A group of twenty-or-so would meet us at Vinnie's for my graduation dinner. Salem would be among them. Phillip and Addie would be there too, along with my landlords and a few other people, family and friends.

Everyone was already at the restaurant when we arrived after the ceremony. The restaurant had set a gigantic table for us, and the whole group clapped for me and stood when we came in. Salem had situated himself at the end of the group where there was an empty chair next to him. I noticed it immediately and I went in that direction. But the party was for me, and I had to greet everyone.

I was right in the middle of hugging my aunt when the spot filled up. My brother and his wife sat next to Salem. He was Sadie's brother, after all. It would be natural for her to sit next to him.

He made eye contact with me as they sat down. We met eyes and gave each other a knowing glance. I had to look away. Everyone wanted to greet me and congratulate me. The longer it took, the further I got from Salem. I had to walk past him to make it to my spot, and we hugged each other and tried to act casual. He rubbed my back when we embraced, and my heart pounded. He had to let go as soon as he held me, and I hated it.

It had been a few days since I had been next to him. I was missing him. I had already decided that I would stop by his house later that evening if we didn't get any time together before that.

We had chosen not to count several of them, but we were on kiss number ten. I had joked about it, saying we should save the tenth one for my graduation. Now it was here. It had snuck up on us. Salem didn't seem to love it when I talked about finishing our contract, and I liked to push his buttons about it.

I had no time to think about it at the moment. I continued moving to the open chair at the restaurant. Sadie and my brother talked to me, and eventually I was on the other end of the table and there was a corner between Salem and me. It worked better that way so that I could see him across the way.

We stayed at the restaurant for over an hour, eating and sharing conversation. There were five or six people between Salem and me, and I couldn't hear him most of the time. I saw enough to know how smitten I was. I saw him interact with people around him, and I felt like I wished he were my man.

I imagined a whole scene where we were a couple. "This is my boyfriend, Salem," I would say. It had a ring to it. I found myself wanting to call him my boyfriend. I looked at him across the corner of that table, and I wanted him. I wanted him be next to me and be mine.

The hilarious part was that Sara was sitting between us, and she would absolutely kill me if she knew that. Maybe it was the forbidden nature of the whole thing that made me so enamored with him. Whatever the cause, I was smitten. Salem was wonderful, gorgeous and masculine, and at the moment, it felt like he was the man of my dreams.

I had faced the fact that I wasn’t his dream, but it was still tempting to take anything he was willing to give. It was fun to flirt with him and know that the attraction was returned. I wasn't obvious with my attraction, but there were definite stolen glances between us at that dinner—a lot of them.

My brother mentioned my new counter, and my parents heard him and went on about it, thanking Salem for making me something so nice. He was gracious with the compliments and kept vague any details about our arrangements for payment.

No one suspected anything.

I didn't even glance at my sister, Sara, during the interaction. Jenny was fine. She and her husband were there, and she didn't even notice Salem or our attraction. But Sara was sitting close to me, and I conveniently avoided eye contact with her while people were talking about Salem's counter.

She had seen it and she liked it, she was happy for me, but I knew she was sensitive about the subject. I knew it would hurt her if I was with him, and that was terrible because I liked him a lot. It was even more terrible because it seemed more and more as if he liked me. I thought about all the texting we had done lately as I stared at his profile from across the table. I realized that things had changed between us, at least they had on my end.

I was lost in thought about it when someone clanged a fork to their glass. I looked to my right, across the table from Salem, to find Darren, my landlord. He was the one who had made the noise, and he was looking at me with a smile. His gaze focused to the whole table as he got to the edge of his seat, sitting up and gaining everyone's attention.

"I know Ben already did a great job saying some very nice words about his daughter, but I wanted to add a few things. He's right about our girl, Molly. She brings joy to all of our lives. I thank you guys for sharing her with us, and I hope she'll stay with Michelle and me for years to come. We could all use a little more joy in our lives." He looked at me. "Molly, I just wanted to congratulate you on your degree and let you know that we all believe in you. You're a hard worker and a good girl. We believe in you to make the world's best chocolate or to do whatever it is you set your mind to." Darren got a few cheers of agreement from that statement, and he continued to focus on me. "I also wanted you to know there's a very nice present from Michelle and I waiting back at home." He lifted his glass. "Cheers to Molly and her bright future!"

---