"Vo-tar-us," Lola said, letting the strange language roll off her tongue."Say more," she demanded like an eager child.Okay, tamp down your inner five-year-old,she told herself.
"Do you want me to answer your other questions?"he asked as he pulled up to the ferry dock.They waited until it was their turn for him to drive his car forward.
"Yes," she nodded."But answer them by speaking in your language."
"Okay," he agreed."Can we communicate with animals?Yes, but probably not in the way that you're thinking."
Lola held up her hand."I said to answer in your language."
Callon's brow rose as he put the car in park, rolled down the windows and then turned the engine off.He turned so his body was angled towards hers."Demanding little cat, aren't you."His gold eyes narrowed and flashed with something Lola could only describe as wicked delight.
She held his gaze, a rabbit that had caught the attention of a hungry predator.The air thickened in the car even though the windows were lowered, and Lola felt a trickle of sweat run down her spine."Sorry," she said when she realized she had sounded very much like a bratty kid."I just get excited."
"I know," Callon said softly as his hand brushed her hair back from her face."It's refreshing.I don't get excited about things."
"Really?"she asked casually."I'd beg to differ.You showed plenty of excitement in your dad’s building.Maybe not excitement in the traditional sense of the word."
"I wouldn't call that excitement," he said, his finger tracing the shell of her ear.
Lola found herself leaning into his touch."What would you call it?"Was that her voice that sounded so breathy?
"Intense," he answered."I'm intense and you make it a hundred times worse."
Lola sucked in a shaky breath."That sounds very dangerous for anyone around you."
"Everyone but you,Sazzi," he whispered."Always everyone but you."
Her eyes slipped closed as his fingers threaded through her hair.The heat from his skin against her scalp was comforting and familiar.How was that possible?How could she feel familiar towards a man she barely knew?
"You might want to check that," Callon's voice had her eyes snapping open.
"What?"she gasped.
"You're phone," he motioned to it sitting in her lap."It vibrated about twenty times in the last thirty seconds."
"Phone, vibrated, seconds," she sputtered like an idiot.She scooped up her phone and swiped the screen.There were fifteen texts.Seven from Katy, five from Maddie and three from Antonio.
She quickly responded to both Maddie and Katy in a joint text.
Lola: I'm alive, he's not crazy– mostly– and I'll respond more later.Quit blowing my phone up.
Dots appeared and Katy responded
Katy: Antonio came in wanting to know where you were.
Lola: What did you tell him?
Katy: That you'd found your book boyfriend, had run off to elope, and that you'd be spending your honeymoon at Disney's Animal Kingdom so your new hubby would feel more at home.
Lola couldn't help but laugh.Katy didn't know how right she was.
Lola: Well, maybe he'll get the idea that I'm not interested.
Katy: Don't count on it.He seemed very agitated.Sal and him got into a yelling match that ended up with Sal throwing Antonio out.
Lola: What?They never fight.
Katy: Something was off about Antonio.I mean he's hot, but he's always been a little on the skeezy side."
