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“Fine.” She sighs. “I can wait. But I’m going to leave you in charge of the date. And I’m not sure you’re up to the challenge.”
“Are you a challenge then?”
“Very challenging. I expect… mystery, mister. And intrigue. And maybe a little danger.”
“Well, you are Poison Ivy.”
She giggles. “That I am.”
“Oh,” I say, snapping my fingers. “Holy fuck. I almost forgot what I saw this morning while I was walking home from Vann’s house.”
“Wow. It must’ve been exciting to get you all perked up like this. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Tell me everything.”
I wince.
“What?” she asks.
“It’s not exactly romantic. But it is a mystery.”
“Just spill. I’ll deal with the date disappointment.”
I lean in to her. Put my lips right up to her ear until she shrugs up her shoulders from the chill I send through her body. “It’s a mystery, Soshee Ameci. It’s a dangerously intriguing mystery.”
She turns her head until our lips are just a few inches apart. I look down at hers. All red and glossy and… kissable.
I want to kiss her. Badly. Hell, I want to throw her down on that bed behind us and fuck her into Sunday.
But not yet.
Not yet, Tony.
She’s not a distraction.
She’s a full-blown attraction.
And I want to do this right.
“Let me get dressed,” I say. “And then I’ll tell you everything while we have our third date, Soshee. I’ll spill all my dirty secrets.”
I will prove it to her.
I’ll prove that even though this started out as something totally fake it’s going to turn into something real.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - BELINDA
My dearest Vann. You are my best friend. You are my rock…
Oh, this is stupid. I’ve been trying to write some kind of big grand-gesture speech like the one he spewed out at me last night (that came from his heart and wasn’t planned out in advance), and I can’t think of what to say.
Do I love him? Yeah, but… it’s not like… love love.
I can’t explain it. I don’t understand my feelings for him.
It’s more than love, but less than love. And saying that to him sounds like one big brush-off. So I’m not going to say that to him.
The problem is, I don’t understand my love for Vann Vaughn.
He’s definitely my best friend. That’s not even up for debate. Even before Tara left, Vann and I were very close. We spent a lot of time together because of work. And I like our time together. That’s why I don’t want to fuck it up with this dating experiment. We know each other well enough that we have inside jokes. I know what he likes to eat when I grab lunch for everyone. I know how he takes his coffee. He doesn’t need to write it down for me. I could pick his favorite t-shirt out of his closet. If I had ever seen his closet, which I haven’t. I’ve been inside the Vaughn house millions of times, but never been upstairs.
