Page 65 of Tony

“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.