Page 76 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

“Mind wandering?” Tia asks with a lilt in her voice. “And so I ask again—kisses or more?”

“Kisses,” I say, watching her smile widen. “Very, very, very good kisses.”

She claps her hands with the enthusiasm of a toddler presented with cake. “I’m so glad. I swear, I couldn’t even see separate auras last night—the tension between you two was that thick.”

I cock my head. “You see auras?”

She waves my words away. “Girl, please. You two? Anyone could see your auras.”

I grin. “I believe it.” I bite my lower lip, debating, then come down on the side of friend-sharing. “We talked too. He told me some pretty heavy family stuff. Complicated stuff.”

Tia frowns. “Yeah? Like what?”

“It’s not my story to tell. Let’s just say there’s definitely more to Chase than I realized.”

“Ah.” Tia nods. “The mysterious hot guy has mysterious hot guy baggage.”

“Something like that,” I say, sliding out of bed and gathering my bathroom stuff. “How was your coffee date with Riley?”

“You are not allowed to change the subject.”

“I didn’t know I had.”

She cocks her head. “Hello? I need at least some details before we flip focus. Are we talking earth-moving kiss or just a nice little peck?”

Heat floods my cheeks. “It was…intense.”

“Good intense or ‘what have I done’ intense?”

“Good intense,” I say, touching my lips with my fingertips. “Definitely good intense.”

“Excellent. I approve of this development.”

“Me too.” True enough, but what I don’t say is that it also scares me. Because Chase is…well, I’m not entirely sure what Chase is. But I do know that anything between us will be complicated.

Right now, though? Tia’s right. Right now, I’m all about the seriously amazing kissing.

“So, what’s the plan for today? More dreamwalking lessons? Or are you going to devote the day to making out with the mysterious supernatural warrior?”

“Careful. Or I’ll tease you about your new girlfriend. Speaking of making out…?”

She pushes herself up to lean against the headboard. “Sadly, no smoochies. I’m honestly not sure where we’re headed. We’re in the Friend Zone, but I’m hoping we move on to the Friends with Benefits zone. Or—better—the Wowza zone.”

“And you don’t have a clue?”

Her cheeks go red. “Not yet.”

“I’m sorry.”

She waves the words away. “She’s a great friend. I’m not complaining. Just riding the Maybe Train. Okay,” she says, pushing herself off the bed and standing. “Talking about lusty fun is all good and well, but can we talk about last night? I mean, that was a little freaky, right?”

My insides go cold, and I have to force my smile. “Definitely freaky,” I say, then bite my lower lip. “Are you weirded out? I mean, you seemed fine walking home, but I get that this stuff is a lot. So if you’re⁠—”

“Girl, please! Of course, I’m weirded out. But not by you. And no way am I running screaming for the door.”

“Good,” I say, only then realizing how afraid I was that the Weirdness That Is Me was going to push away my first real friend.

“I should probably go shower if I plan to hit a class today,” I say, relieved enough now to worry about the time. “And don’t you have class right now?”