Page 60 of Written in the Stars
Warmth seeped from Elle’s chest down into her stomach like she’d taken a shot of tequila. It spread lower, heat settling between her thighs. Her thoughts turned syrupy slow and candy sweet as Darcy leaned in, erasing the distance between them inch by torturous inch.
This was really happening and it couldn’t be for show because it was just the two of them inside the kitchen, their faces growing closer together. Elle could taste the sharp, fruity, warmth of Darcy’s breath and her chest started to ache, arms and legs and the muscles in her stomach quivering, all but vibrating from keeping still. Waiting... waiting... Anticipation was the sweetest torture as Darcy exhaled, lips curling in delight at the whimper that clawed its way up Elle’s throat when Darcy’s nose brushed hers, Darcy’s nails—
“There you two—Whoops.”
Elle stepped back, hip knocking into the counter, sending a frisson of pain radiating from her hip bone all the way up her side. A pink flush crept up Darcy’s jaw as she stepped away, ducking her chin and staring at the floor.
Frozen in the doorway, Dad smiled sheepishly. “Right. Just coming to make sure you were okay, Elle-belle.”
“Fine, Dad.” At least her voice had barely shook. “We’ll be out in a minute.”
He coughed lightly, feet already carrying him backward through the door.
A moment passed, Elle weighing words that would do her feelings justice. She wanted to chase after the moment, snatch it back, crawl inside that bubble where she and Darcy breathed the same air, but she didn’t know how to revive it.
Darcy opened her mouth and a sudden pulse of panic clawed its way up Elle’s throat not knowing what Darcy was going to say but terrified it would erase the progress they’d made.
“What are you doing this weekend?” Elle blurted.
Darcy shut her mouth, lashes fluttering. “Why?”
Elle swallowed and took a leap of faith. “Do you want to do something? With me?”
That moment was gone. But they could make a new moment. Several moments. If Darcy wanted. If this, Darcy following her into the kitchen, and saying what she had, meant what Elle hoped it did.
Darcy’s lips drew to the side. “Not with your family, right?”
“Definitely not.” Elle laughed, relieved beyond belief that Darcy hadn’t immediately said no.
“And not with my brother?”
Darcy was flirting and there was no one around for her to fool, no one to convince that this was anything but exactly what it was. Something real.
Elle shook her head and boldly reached out, brushing a strand of hair out of Darcy’s face before it could fall into her eyes. “Just me.”
Hopefullyjust Ellewould be enough.
The smirk on Darcy’s face grew, spreading, transforming into a genuine smile, the sight of which made Elle’s stomach explode in a spray of butterfly wings. “I’d like that.”
Chapter Eleven
Are you sure we’re allowed to be here?” Darcy whispered, following Elle up a long, narrow flight of stairs sandwiched between two stone walls.
The step beneath Elle’s right foot creaked when she turned, one hand resting on the railing, the other clutching her phone, which served as their flashlight, illuminating the otherwise pitch-black stairway.
“No.” A scant amount of light rebounded off the stone wall casting shadows across Elle’s face. Darcy couldn’t see her mouth, but the lilt to Elle’s voice hinted at a smile. “We’re actuallynotallowed to be here.”
“Elle.”
“Come on.” Fingers caressed the inside of Darcy’s wrist making her shiver. “Break the rules with me, Darcy.”
Little did she know Darcy was already breaking all sorts of rules. Rules of Darcy’s own making.
Darcy should’ve known Elle had a reason for refusing to answer any of her questions about where they were going and whatElle had planned for their... date? Itfeltlike a date, had all the trappings of one. Darcy’s stomach had been in tangles all day, thinking about it. Her focus had been shot, her ability to get work done dismal. Rather than accomplish any studying, Darcy had performed an unreliable risk assessment of her own. Answer? If she had to ask whether it was a date, her risk was too high. Even knowing that, all she could think about was Elle, seeing Elle, what it meant and how it terrified her and how, despite the risk, she’d been unable to bring herself to cancel.
Dress warm and be ready by elevenwas all Elle had said. At first Darcy had thought Elle meant eleven in the morning because what reasonable person planned a date for eleven at night? But according to Elle, the best adventures happened after dark.
Elle jiggled the knob on the door, hips and ass shaking in the cutest victory dance when the door opened revealing a round, moonlit room. “Ta-da! Welcome to the Jacobsen Observatory, the second-oldest building on campus.” Arms outstretched above her, fingers lifted toward the domed ceiling, Elle spun in a dizzying circle, her black skirt flouncing out around her tight-covered thighs. She was wearing the jacket Darcy had bought her.
