Page 103 of A Love Like Candle Light

“I'm pretty sure aunt Molly would ask me the same thing.” I chuckle and close my eyes. “Maybe it's a little deeper than that. She's my sister. We used to have a pretty tight bond, I think. Maybe I just want to approach her alone so I can lick my wounds in peace should she inflict any.”

Comfortable silence settles, as we watch nature through her living room window. It’s peaceful to stare at such an open space. The lake. The mountains in the distance.

There’s a question burning on the tip of my tongue and I can’t hold it back anymore. “Did you snoop?”

She puts her lip between her teeth and glances away. Oh, she so did. “Maybe,” she mumbles, then lifts her hand, thumb and index finger showing a small gap. “Only a little, I swear.”

“I changed my mind. Tell me. Please.” She stares at me, apprehensiveness written all over her face. Then her lips pull into a gentle smile.

“She graduated high school, went to university, got a master’s in literature, and runs a bookstore.”

Something tugs at my heart.

Aunt Molly said Lilith used to love reading, even back then. Granted, it was mostly picture books. However, I barely have a picture of her without her nose buried in one of them.

“She has a fat tabby cat named Garfield, and every Wednesday she goes out with her friends. She's currently single, though I think there might have been a situationship a few months back.”

“And you got all this from her social media profiles?”

She shrugs as if that's the easiest thing in the world, even though it's information even Frank didn't even have on her.

“And her friends' social media profiles,” she adds sheepishly. “Allegedly.”

“What about her family?”

“That's where it gets interesting.” She taps her fingertips against the tabletop. “I scrolled down her socials until, like, 2015. No mention of her parents. No pictures with them. Nothing. Maybe I have to look further back. Or maybe they’re incredibly private people.”

“You don't have to look further. Thank you,” I mumble and pull her into a kiss.

The butterflies in my stomach are staging a riot. Happiness is slowly but surely pushing all other emotions aside, and I smile against her lips.

Then I pull her into my lap.

Chapter 36

Erik

I break the kiss and stare at her for a moment, still utterly dumbfounded. She went out of her way to find all of this out? For me?

“Sorry,” she mumbles, gaze darting down to her hands. She’s fiddling with the hem of her shirt, cheeks flush. “Did I overstep? I promise you it’s all information I got from her public social media profiles. No watching her from my car with binoculars, peeking through her window or rustling through her garbage bin, I swear.”

“No,” I assure her quickly and pull one of her hands into mine. “You didn’t overstep, not at all, I’m in… awe.”

“In awe?” An amused grin curls her lips as she lifts her face to meet my eyes. “I promise you it’s really not that impressive. I only had to—”

Before she can dive into an explanation of how she learned what my sister’s favorite food is, I snake my hand through her hair and pull her in, capturing her lips in a kiss that makes her melt against me. My other arm wanders around her back and I pull her closer, kiss her until I can’t even remember my own name and she breaks it to catch her breath.

“Oh wow,” she mumbles against my lips in a breathless whisper, fingertips playing with the hair at the back of my neck. Her touch sends a shiver down my spine and the way she squirms in my lap is enough to make me hard for her.

“Oh wow indeed,” I whisper and capture her lips again, noting the subtle way she moves against my crotch.

Fuck. Kissing her might be my new addiction.

The little whimpers from the back of her throat, the way her breath hitches as I nudge my tongue against hers, that sharp inhale when I squeeze her butt—

“Bedroom,” she mumbles into the kiss and tugs at my hair. “Now.”

Well, no need to tell me twice.