Page 173 of Love Me in the Dark
The town we’re in is small and Cal pulls up to what looks like a non-descript house with a chain link fence.
We talked more on the drive. On the surface, it was about nothing, but everything at the same time. I don’t know how to explain it. Our conversation flowed easily about music, movies, books, our likes and dislikes.
But thing is, we click. Even when he tells me he hates the idea of cozy mysteries and prefers the hard-boiled edge of crime in his books there’s a familiar link. Like two sides of something.
And I don’t want this drive to end.
“If this is going to be my last couple of days of freedom,” I say, “maybe we can make it count.”
He doesn’t speak for a long moment. “This isn’t a vacation.”
“I know what it is.” I clasp my hands. “I just…I want to have some fun.”
Cal pulls out his phone and types something. When it beeps he reads the message and tucks it away before looking at me. “How about this? We order in, make it a night, pretend we’re out?”
“I’ll take it,” I say.
He’s dangerous.Not just in the way all the men I know are. He has that deadly edge all mafia have, but not the rest of it.
When Cal Quinn says he’s third party, I know that means he’s dangerous, but it’s not the danger that sings a path down my spine.
No, the danger I felt the moment we met is the one that tells me he’ll dive into darkness to protect what he loves.
He’d die for that.
Risk everything.
The moment I laid eyes on him something changed. Opened inside me. And I’m not sure I want to close that door. Not until I’ve experienced his darkness and light, exposed the secrets I don’t need spoken. Wrapped myself in his universal truth.
No, I don’t want to leave him until that happens.
I smooth my hands down the front of my dress and swipe on some lip gloss.
This is the dress I’m meant to wear when I meet my new husband.
Red like a siren and it should clash with my hair but it doesn’t. It deepens the color, gives me a layer of sophistication I don’t have.
I take a breath and look at the girl with the too-big eyes in the mirror.
No fear is there.
Just anticipation.
I don’t know where we are right now. The place feels like it’s lived lives, holds memories of another time, and it’s not fancy like the last one.
Nothing around me in the room is personal but it will be soon.
Because I intend to make a memory here, something to hold on to in the years to come.
With another breath, I make my way out into the living room where Cal’s scrolling through his phone.
“I’ll order in, what do you?—”
“Cal?”
He stops and turns. His gaze sweeps over me, long, hungry, and burning.
I cross the room to meet him. Rising up on my toes, my lips curl upward for a second before I press them against his in a kiss that ignites the flickering sparks in my soul.
