I close the distance between us, placing my hand just inches from hers on the counter. “I’d like it if you’d stay for a while.”
She nods to the bowls. “Good, because I’m not leaving yet. I was promised dessert.”
“If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I keep my promises.”
“I already knew that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NORA
Cormac downloads the originalHalf-Lifeon his computer. He lets me be the player and sits beside me with Cookie curled up on his lap. She looks hopefully at our ice cream bowls as we empty them.
The hours seem to slip by, and suddenly it’s past midnight. I know I have to go, and it alarms me how much I don’t want to. It alarms me so much that I unceremoniously announce that I’m leaving.
“All right. You do look tired.”
I have to smile. “You should never tell a woman that.”
“You’re living proof that a person can look tired and beautiful at the same time.”
“Better,” I say as I get to my feet and collect the bowls.
He follows me into the kitchen, Cookie not even bothering to get up and trail him at this late hour. But when I try to rinse the bowls, he grabs my hand. “I’ll do it.”
A moment of silent awkwardness descends between us when I step away from the sink. I know it’s time to leave, he knows it’s time for me to leave, but it feels like I can’t just throw him a wave.
Cormac being Cormac, he calls it out. “Can I kiss you goodbye, or is that against the rules we haven’t set?”
I smile again, although my heart is thumping painfully now. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
It must be the complications, I decide. Our parents would flip a shit if they knew what we’d been up to in Apple Ridge last week, and I’d prefer not to be responsible for their joint heart attack.
“You can kiss me so long as no one’s watching.”
He adjusts his glasses, looking bemused. “I assume you’d be okay with me kissing you if José and Pansy were watching, considering this is all for their benefit.”
“I wouldn’t say it’sallfor their benefit.”
He must like that because he gathers me into his arms. “So you’re saying you liked it when I fucked you in my kitchen.”
There’s a rush of heat between my legs, because yes, I did like it. A lot. “Don’t get a big head.”
“The cranium stops growing between the ages of twenty and thirty.”
I bury my head in his chest. “You’re such a nerd.”
His hand smooths over my hair. “Says the woman who spent the night playingHalf-Lifewith me.”
“So maybe I’m a nerd too,” I mumble into his shirt.
“I can’t wait to tell Kenji you were secretly a nerd all along.”
I laugh. “Right. I doubt he even remembers who I am.”
He pulls back and looks me square in the eyes. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“Did he want to go to all of those dumb parties too?” I ask, forcing myself to smile. I suspect he was about to tell me why he kept that note tucked away in his yearbook, but it felt essential to interrupt him. Because I’m worried I might know why he did it.
