Page 205 of Dark Love

“Dahlia.”

“Fine, but I just didn’t want you to think things.”

“I think about lots of things. But the only thing I’m thinking about right now is kissing you.”

That’s so romantic. “I think about kissing you all the time.”

“Dahlia.”

“Fine. But if I do something wrong, it’s all your fault.”

He laughs as I gently tug on the tie, pulling his head down towards mine.

I touch my lips to his and pause for a moment. This feels nice. His lips are soft and minty. We didn’t eat anything minty.

He… He… I pull back. “You brushed your teeth.”

“Of course I did. I told you I loved you. There’s no way I wasn’t going to kiss you today.”

“But you brushed your teeth, and I didn’t. There’s a rule. You can’t brush your teeth when I didn’t brush mine.”

“Dahl, kiss me.”

“Fine. But it’s your own fault if I taste like roasted onions and garlic when you’re all minty fresh.” I tug on his tie until our lips meet again. The last thingon my mind is the lingering effects of lunch when his fingers slide into my hair and up against my scalp.

Once every six weeks since I turned fifteen, I’ve gotten a scalp massage. Not one of them felt like this. I drop his tie and slide my hands up his arms and around his shoulders. It’s one perfect moment like they write about in books.

Vex lifts his head away, and I can’t stop a sigh from escaping my lips.

“Well, do you think you’ll want to do that again, Dahl?”

“Mmmm.”

He leans down and kisses the tip of my nose.

“Kissing isn’t as scary as I thought it was.”

“Only you thought kissing would be scary.” He dots a kiss on the corner of my lips.

It is when you’re as old as me and have never done it before that you start to get a bit anxious. “Does this mean I can kiss you whenever I want?”

“Dahl, you could have kissed me any time you wanted for weeks now.”

“I’ve only known you for weeks—Oh. Oh.” That means I can do it again and again.

His fingers tighten in my hair, moving my head towards his as he leans down again.

This, I could get used to.

***

“So, are we going to find out who the killer is in this book?” Vex fiddles with a lock of my hair while turning the page of the book I gave him.

“No. There are four more books in this series.”

“Four? You’re going to need to start writing faster. I don’t want to wait a year to find out who did it?”

I sit up and glare at him. “Readers. You give ‘em a book, and they want four more in the blink of an eye.”

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