“Pre-law.”
“Figures. One—you’ll make a great lawyer since you’ve just minced my words. I never said I’d play bear bait with you and go for a walk in the woods while we rubbed ourselves down with honey. And, yes, I do believe you’re that moronic. And two, pre-law isn’t a major.” She dives past me and speeds off into thenight.
“Exactly!” I shout after her. “It’s a state ofmind.”
She gives a light chuckle, and there it is—a crack of light in that dark soul. So I do the only thing I can think of. I run like hell to catch up withher.
Lex pauses to toss her coffee and donut out just long enough for me to jog up alongsideher.
“How about five minutes of your time in Founder’s Square?” I nod over to the giant expanse of dark lawn just a few feet away with a fountain lighting up the center with an ethereal baby blue glow. “It will be our third unofficial date, and if I don’t manage to make you want to come back for more, I promise I will leave you alone the next time I see you diligently inhaling carbohydrates in the name of education.” I cross my fingers over my heart and hold up myhand.
She scowls at me a moment, her dark brows each pitched in the opposite direction, one spiking into her forehead and the other dipping down hard into her eye. Lex is the perfect villain. A thief. She’s already stolen myheart.
“Deal. But only because it’s Halloween, and spending five minutes with you in the dark should give me the proper fright this night requires. But then you’ll leave me alone because you’re a man of your word, right?” she scolds in that placating way that a mother might do, and something twisted about her tone turns meon.
“Yes, ma’am.” Most likely. Hell, I don’t know that I could leave her alone if Itried.
We trek over the lawn in the direction of the fountain, and I carefully take up her hand, threading my fingers through hers before giving a gentlesqueeze.
Lex glances down with a grunt. “I take it you don’t want that handback.”
A laugh thunders from me, but I can’t help it. There it is, the knife in the gut I’m guessing she’s an expert at wielding—through wordsanyway.
“I like your sense of humor.” I bring her hand up and press a light kiss over the back, sending a trail of goose bumps down my arm, through my spine, straight down to myfeet.
“I don’t have a sense of humor.” She plucks her hand free and proceeds to speed us to the fountain. “So why the dateless night of horrors? Isn’t it prime picking at Gamma Gamma Gagme?”
“That it is”—we pause next to the quiet rush of waters, the blue reflection from the fountain washing all of the hues from the night, highlighting her eyes, making her face light up like an angel—“and if it were not for you, my queen, I might be playing the part of unholy jester in some unsuspecting coed’s bed, but alas, your beauty has bewitched me and it is only you Iseek.”
“Wow”—she muses, taking a step in toward me and the scent of lilacs dances from her hair—“that was a seriously bad mockup of Shakespeare. I’m guessing that move gets you past first base with thegirls?”
“I don’t know”—I boldly trace her hair softly before digging my fingers into the back of her silky mane—“I’ve never initiated that particular bad mockup before. But since you promised me first base.” And then I go for it. I lean in and watch as her eyes round out, and I see the reflection of the moon embedded in eachone.
“Do you think you’re going to kiss me?” she hisses, her eyes dangerously slit like that of an iratecat.
“Yes.” I inch in ever so close as the warmth of her skin sets me onfire.
“Then I see you won’t need your hand or your lips back for thenight.”
“How about this”— my mouth hovers a breath away from hers—“we kiss for the remainder of our five minutes, and if you’re still not interested, you can take whatever body parts you want. I promise I will leave you the hell alone.” Damn. Of all the words to come from mylips.
Lex takes in a deep breath. Her chest rises just enough to graze over mine, and my balls ache from that sweet soft touch ten times more than they ever have for a girl that had actually managed to land in mybed.
“You have less than thirty seconds remaining,” she whispers, all of the wicked intent emptied from her voice and in its place a hint of longing. My ego wants to believe it was lust in bloom just forme.
And I do it. I land my lips over hers and linger. Every last cell in my body detonates with relief, with a hallelujah choir, a roar that screamshell yesright down to the marrow in my bones. I have kissed a thousand girls easily and never in my life, not even with the very first lip-lock have I ever felt so wholly alive, so desperate for this moment to stretch out forever. It’s in this moment I realize I can never be with anyone outside of Lex. No girl could make me feel this way. No girl could possibly replace her. It was just her for me. And if she wanted nothing to do with me, I was doomed to walk the planet with a broken heart for the remainder of mydays.
Lex pulls me in by the back of the neck and meets me with a far hungrier kiss, one that sayshere I am, make my day, make the best out of these remaining seconds I’ve gifted you. And then the unthinkable happens. Her mouth falls open, and I fall into the warm wet wonderland of Alexa Ximena Maxfield’s beautiful,beautifulmouth. And that’s when I realize I’ve found my way home. I don’t ever want toleave.
Lex and I duke it out with our mouths, with our tongues, with those wandering hands for the next fewhours.
Yes, it’s safe to say that neither of us ever wants toleave.
* * *
PresentDay…
Axel
