Page 80 of Crazy Thing

Our food arrives, and Darius hungrily dives into his large plate of bacon and French toast. Meanwhile, I happily nibble away at my buckwheat pancakes.

“Oh, my gosh. You literally ordered a heart attack,” I joke when I look at his plate.

He smirks. “You’ll help me work it off later?” he whispers in my ear.

I shiver, blushing hotly and unable to fight my smile. “You might not live long enough to try. Here, have a bite of mine.” I slice up an extra large bite and feed it to Darius straight off my fork.

He taps his chest, right over his heart. “See, the bacon is canceled out now. What’s that give me? Two extra years?”

I laugh, smacking his arm. “More like two hours. I think you can do better than that. Here, open up.”

He does, but this time a big gooey drop of organic maple syrup plops onto his shirt. I suck in a breath. “Oops!”

I snatch up the nearest paper napkin, and I try my best to clean the sticky stain. But the cheap napkin just keeps falling apart and making an even bigger mess across the front of his shirt.

“Oh jeez, I’m sorry,” I mutter quietly.

But then his dark stare locks onto mine and before I can tackle the mess with a new napkin, Darius grabs my hand, brings it to his mouth, and licks my syrupy fingers.I inhale sharply at the flash flood of arousal that drenches my panties.

Then, we’re both dying with laughter.

Darius just keeps on flirting, unconcerned with our audience. I can hear the shocked gasps coming from my sister’s table every few seconds. Felix and Daphne keep exchanging looks that say,What the hell is going on here?

I’ve just finished my last bite when Daphne comes up to our table. “I need to go to the bathroom,” she announces.

“Oh, I think it’s over there in the corner,” I tell her.

Daphne rolls her eyes at me. “That means you have to come with me.”

“Says who?” I frown.

“Says the girl code. Duh.” Then she grabs my hand, yanks me out of my seat, and unapologetically drags me with her across the restaurant.

I look back briefly and find Darius staring in my direction. Then, Felix blocks my view when he drops down into the chair I just vacated.

Okay. I guess the Brighton boys are going to have a discussion of their own, too.

Daphne locks me inside the sticky, stinky bathroom before she starts questioning me. “Ziggy! Oh my gawd. What is going on here?” she asks excitedly.

My teeth sink into my bottom lip and I feel my forehead crinkle with worry. “I honestly don’t know.”

“I thought you didn’t even like Darius,” my sister presses.

I shrug as my heart rate starts to kick up. “He’s starting to grow on me. Sort of like black mold.”

Daphne folds her arms and lifts an eyebrow at me.

I start pacing as I speak. “I don’t know, okay, Daphne? For years and years, I couldn’t stand him. And then we started working together and spending time together. And then we crossed the line—once and twice and again. And the next thing I know, I can’t stop thinking about him and craving him and missing him when he’s not around…” My feet stop. “Oh god,” I hear myself groan. I smack a palm to my forehead. “He’s driven me crazy! I’m going crazy!”

Daphne grabs my shoulders and shakes me. Violently. “No, babe. You’re not going crazy. That’s the feeling of falling in love.”

And my whole world stops.

“Oh, god…” is all I can manage to squeak out as reality starts to creep in.

I’m falling in…Oh my…With…Oh my god…With Darius Brighton.

I’m falling in love with Darius Brighton!

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