Page 538 of Dark Love

Piper walks in and closes the door behind her.

And now we’re going to dissect every part of Piper’s date for the rest of the evening.

Me: Gotta go, Darling. Piper just got back. Love you.

Vex: Love you, Dahl. The answer is yes.

Vex dreams about me! EEEEEEEE

“Well? Tell us everything?” Junie pats the couch seat next to her.

Piper starts to pace around the bar. “It was amazing. We spent hours talking about everything and nothing. He asked about my books and actually listened to me talk about them. Valen is thoughtful, intelligent, sexy, and scary.”

“Scary?” Dylan hones in on the word that echoed through all of our minds.

“Scary men aren’t all that bad.” Maybe I shouldn’t have phrased it quite like that since everyone is now gaping at me. “Vex only looks scary to everyone else, but he’s the sweetest man ever.”

“Your boyfriend’s name is Vex?” Colin’s voice has this weird tone to it.

“Um… Yeah. Didn’t I mention that before?”

Everyone shakes their head.

“What kind of name is Vex?” Stella asks no one.

“Dahlia, can I speak to you privately?” Colin stands up.

Um… Has Colin heard about Vex? Vex knew about Colin.

Colin better not try to say something bad about my man. “We can talk in the bedroom.”

He follows me in and closes the door behind him.

“You know, every single one of them has their ear pressed to the door listening in.”

Colin seemingly ignores what I said as he stares at me.

Fine. I can deal with whatever he might say about Vex.

“How long have you known Vex?”

It feels like forever sometimes. “A few weeks.”

“You’re serious about him?”

“Yes.” Even though it feels like I should add a million caveats to that answer.

“And he’s serious about you?”

Whatever it is we have doesn’t feel like his standard operating procedure when it comes to women. “Yes.”

“Then you know about him?”

Mostly. Sort of. “The important things.” Though there are still holes. To ask these questions, Colin must know Vex. “Why do you ask?”

Colin’s whole demeanor changes. “Because Vex has a certain reputation.”

As a crime lord or killer. “Yeah, I’ve heard about his reputation.”

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