Page 53 of Dark Love

How did he — “Those aren’t my only vices.”

“But they’re the worst of the bunch.” He opens the door to the pastry shop, letting me step in first.

“They certainly aren’t.” The sweet scent of baked dough and spices beckons me in.

“Name one.”

That’s easy. “I read the last page of every book before I buy it.”

“The horror.”

“It really is.”

“I believe you.”

“Did you really do all those things?” Why did I say that? I shouldn’t have asked a crime lord if he did bad things.

“Yes, Dahlia, I did.”

“Why?” Nothing about this man makes any sense.

He shrugs. “Because I could.”

“Your mother should have grounded you. It worked wonders for my brother… sort of.”

Vex smirks. “Sort of?”

“He married the wrong woman. Who took him for everything. Then he discovered drinking and gambling for a while. We think he’s just starting to come out of his funk now. But you can’t ground grown men, now can you?”

“Was he mean to you?”

“My brother hated himself. It was hard for him to be nice to anyone.” A place that smells this good isn’t suited for heavy topics. “What are you going to get?”

“I just ate cookies.” Vex doesn’t look away from me to glance up at the menu.

“So?”

“With logic like that, how can I disagree?” He glances up for the briefest second. “I’m going to have an egg white omelet on a croissant. What about you?”

Hmm. That’s a good question. There are so many scrumptious-looking items in the display case, and the drink menu is huge.

“Do you always have a hard time making choices?”

Maybe. Sometimes. More than occasionally. “Um…kind of.”

One side of his lip tips up.

Why does it feel like such an accomplishment to make him smile?

“You need to look at the menu. We’re up next.”

He’s polite too. A polite crime lord… that’s not much of an oxymoron.

“We should have ordered in.”

My head swings around to see if anyone heard what he just said. A blush burns up my cheeks. No one even bats an eye.

“I might have found a new hobby.”

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