Page 34 of Kiss and Make Love

“What about you, Theo? Did you like this week’s read?” Molly piped up, drawing me into the conversation and placing a hand on my knee.

Holy sacred shit. Now, she was touching my knee. Thank goodness I didn’t have knee sweat. Otherwise, I was sure it’d be soaking through my jeans and onto her beautiful hand.

Sometimes, I had difficulty speaking up, and her touch was not helping. I was fine listening to everyone else, but the kind gesture of her bringing me into the conversation didn’t escape me. Neither did the twinkle in her eye when I opened my mouth to respond.

“I enjoyed it. The author did a great job at making me not sure who to trust.” I played with my fingers, hoping that was a good enough response when my heartbeat was pounding through my ears like the upright bass in a jazz trio.

Molly squeezed my leg in approval and let her hand linger there.

“Oh, that’s so true. I kept shifting blame from one person to the next!” Sonny jumped in.

Molly winked at me again as the conversation took off.

I did a good job. I got the conversation going. Plus, Molly seemedto be paying me a great deal of attention tonight. Win-win-win.

“You weren’t kidding when you said there were a lot of books to put away,” Molly groaned, shelving the second last stack beside her on the cart.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Told you.” My cart was almost empty.

After shelving the last one I had, I joined Molly further down the aisle and grabbed a book from her cart.

“How do you do this so fast?” she asked, looking for the proper place for a popular historical romance novel.

“I’m just a big fan of the Dewey Decimal System,” I replied, going through her last stack with ease.

She turned and relaxed against the shelf behind her, watching my every move. “Know what I’m a big fan of?”

“French bulldogs, angsty horror books, brunch at The Waffle Wagon, uh…” I tried to think of other things we’d talked about over the past few months while putting away a monster romance with a blue and pink cover. “Black cats. More so than every other kind of cat because they get an undeserved bad rap. Also?—”

“Theo.”

“Yeah, Mol?” I slipped the novel into its correct place, which I liked to think of as its little home on the shelf.

“Look at me, Theo.” Her voice sounded different. Softer.

I glanced up and saw she was standing much closer now. If I reached out, I’d be able to wrap her in my arms. Swallowing the nervousness building in my throat, I met her gaze.

“Did I get it wrong?” I asked.

She stepped toward me and placed a gentle palm against my chest. “Yes, you big lug. Because I’m trying to say I’m a big fan ofyou.”

I gulped. I actually gulped like a cartoon character. How could I not when her fingers were tracing little paths around my right pec? “You’re a big fan of…me?”

She sighed. “I’ve been dropping hints for ages, but you’ve never made a move. I’m tired of waiting, so here we are.”

I scrunched my brows together. “Where are we?” This couldn’t be happening. Surely, the goddess in front of me wasn’t interested in, well, me. Not in that way. We were friends. Really good friends.

She took another step toward me, placing her other hand on my cheek. “We’re here. Alone. Together.”

My brain stopped working. Error. Blue screen of death. 404 file not found.

“I’m trying to tell you I like you, Theo,” she whispered.

Reboot. Starting up.

Molly liked me? Molly liked me. All those months of talking and hanging out around the library, book club, and The Waffle Wagon a few times, she was hiding feelings for me.

I rushed to say it back. “I…I like you, too, Molly. So much like. I mean…I never thought you’d feel the same way about me.”

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