Page 141 of Darkest Obsession

Clover chuckles. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, bloody terrified. But… It doesn’t matter. I like talking with you. I like lying in bed doing nothing with you. There’s something so bloody easy about being around you.”

I shake the hair out of my face so I can see her properly. Clover smiles and her face turns into a warm, glowing ball of light. I want to hold her so fucking badly.

“I know,” she says. “It’s like… Having a friend but there’s something more, you know?”

“Yes. I know.”

She tiptoes and kisses me. I grab her by the hips and pull her closer, deeper into the kiss. I love when she kisses me. I love any little sign from Clover that she’s letting go, that she’s giving me a chance to get to know her. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and kisses even more deeply.

I run my hands over her hips and then cup her bum. Clover squeals and moves closer to me, her hips undulating slightly against me, getting me rock hard. Kissing her, touching her and fuck, even watching her can be enough to get me hard.

She pulls away and catches her breath.

“I have to stop myself,” she breathes. Her chest moves against mine with each of her breaths.

“Okay,” I whisper, even if I don’t want her to stop.

“I promise to stay in touch over the holiday,” she says. “I promise not to ghost you, get all distant or make things weird. I want to make this work when we get back to school.”

“So do I.”

“I don’t care what happened this semester, I don’t care about any of the bad things you’ve done, but I want you to promise me that you’ll stay out of trouble, okay? Promise that you’ll be different.”

I know she’s talking about the ways I hurt her, the secrets I’ve kept from her and the past I’ve had which any woman would find less than respectable. For Clover? I could promise the world.

“I promise to stay out of trouble.”

“No investigating the other half of spicy freak without me,” Clover tacks on at the end.

“You were planning to investigate?”

“Yes. Sylvia and Kola want me to leave it to the police but I can’t do that. It’s bothering me, you know? It doesn’t make any sense. If Molly hated you so badly, why did she only attack people around you?”

“I dunno.”

“We know she wasn’t working alone. I just think it’s bigger than we realize, you know?”

I can’t blame Clover for turning this around in her mind a hundred times. It’s been a major distraction from studying for finals and not even going out on the water to scull and clear my head has had any measurable impact on my concern.

“What about the incident earlier with Kola? Could it have been Jamal.”

Clover shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, don’t investigate without me.”

“What about Sylvia and Kola?”

“I don’t want to worry them,” Clover says. “They deserve to enjoy their holiday. It’s my fault Kola was in the line of danger. I have to do something about it.”

“It’s as much my fault as yours.”

“Then help me.”

“Why do we always end up working together on some sordid little secret mission?”

Clover rolls her eyes. “There’s nothing sordid about this. And anyway, it’s definitely because we’re both stubborn.”

“Aye.”