"I'm sorry, but I need to get some sleep tonight. Last night was a little rough, and I have a long day in front of me tomorrow." We hadn't told Ven and Erin about the stalker or much about any of the problems we'd had over the past several months, choosing instead by unspoken mutual pact to keep things light. I'd gotten the feeling from some of the stories they told at dinner that Ven and Erin might be the type to charge in, swords flying and magic blazing, to try to solve our mystery, and I wasn't quite at the point where I wanted to call in the Atlantean cavalry.
We stood and said our goodbyes, and Erin and I traded phone numbers and email addresses so I could reach out to her about the cookout.
"It will be a little while. We have the Swamp Cabbage Festival this weekend," I told them, and Ven's grin widened.
"I can't wait to spend some time in Dead End. It sounds like quite a unique little town."
"You have no idea," Jack said fervently, and they laughed.
Ven called to the portal, right there on the terrace, and this time I only hesitated a little before taking Jack's hand and stepping into the magic.
The world spun around me again in a whirl of sound and light, and then we stepped out onto my front lawn. I thanked the portal again, but this time it was silent, and then I watched as it vanished.
"Did that really happen?" I turned to Jack, who still held my hand. "Did we really have dinner in Atlantis?"
"We did," he said, pulling me closer and putting his arms around me. "Which raises a big problem."
"I… what's that?" My breath caught in my throat as he bent his head and smiled, his face only inches from mine.
He flashed a grin. "How am I ever going to top that for a second date?"
I blinked and then burst out laughing. "I don't think it's possible. You're going to need to—"
But I lost all idea of what I'd been about to tell him, because suddenly his mouth was on mine, and he was kissing me.
Only for a few seconds, and then he stopped and drew in a rasping breath. "Is this okay?"
I nodded and put my arms around his waist. "Yes," I whispered, and then he kissed me again, and the world dissolved into a burst of magic and music and lights, until I felt like we must be in the portal again. He kept kissing me, and I kissed him right back, there on my front lawn, in the moonlight, and I had a fleeting thought that things like this evening did not happen to ordinary small-town girls like me.
I put my hands on the sides of his face and held him and wondered how I'd ever thought I'd been kissed before, with this to compare it to.
After a while later that I was too dazed to measure in seconds or minutes or days, Jack lifted his head and stared down at me, disbelief or shock widening his eyes.
"What was that?"
"I—what?"
He shook his head and stepped back. "Oh, boy. I think we're in trouble here, Tess. I didn't expectthat."
I blinked, still feeling a little dizzy. "I don't know what you mean. You didn't expect what?"
"I didn't expect one kiss to make me completely lose my bearings," he said, a glassy look in his eyes. "Maybe we should—"
But I didn't get to find out what we should maybe do, because the breeze picked up just then, and Jack's head whipped to the side, and then he snarled and raced over to my front porch.
I felt my entire body slump.
No.
Not again. I did not want to go from the best date in the history of the world to the best kiss in the history of theuniverseto more stalker horribleness.
He held up a large, wrapped box.
Damn.
"It's the same guy," he said grimly, his mouth a flat line. "It's the same gift wrap. Same note about how you're the apple of his eye."
I sighed and then made myself follow him to the porch. "What's in it?"
