Page 59 of A Novel Love Story

And when I snagged his lip again, he groaned and held on to me tighter, breaking apart just long enough to growl, “Gentle, sweetheart,” before he kissed me again.

And fuck, I didn’t know if it was his main character magic, or the fact that I’d never been calledsweetheartwith such hunger, but it burned deep in my middle, below where the butterflies had burrowed and lain dead for years.His heroine could have him tomorrow. I wanted to have him now, this second, in my m—

Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder.

We startled away from each other. Our chests were heaving, our lips red and swollen from the kisses, his pupils blown wide as he drank me in, wanting nothing more than to taste me again, and I’m sure mine were the same.

But the bookstore had become dark again, the moonlight gone in what felt like the span of a breath. The bright, staccato beat of my heart was quickly drowned out by the rain as it pounded, heavy and fast, on the windows. Wind shook the panes, like ghosts trying to get in.

In that moment, he must’ve come to his senses. I did, too. A little bit.

“I’m sorry,” I said, breathless. The bookstore was spinning, and so I finally admitted, “I—I think I’m drunk.”

He cleared his throat, rubbing his mouth with his fingers, scrambling to collect himself. “Let me show you to your door.” His voice was still gruff, barely constrained.

I gave a nervous laugh. “No, no. It’s fine, it’s right up there. I’m—I’m—” I stumbled as I turned around, and the next thing I knew he had picked me up in his arms and carried me up the winding staircase to the second floor, and across to the blue door of my loft.

Then he set me down. “There,” he said.

I stared up into his lovely face, though admittedly I could only see what the lights in the loft allowed through the cracks in the door—which wasn’t much. Still, I think I didn’t mind it. “You … can come in, if you want?” I asked.

His mouth dipped into a frown, and his face pinched, like he was torn by the question,but finally he decided, “No. I don’t think I should.”

My eyes widened. “Oh.”

Had I read the room wrong? Gotten the wrong vibe? Certainly he was very much into me, I could tell by his trousers alone, so what was stopping him? The rain pounded harder on the windows. The storm had come back with a vengeance, it seemed.

“I’m gone tomorrow,” I said. “So it doesn’t really matter if we …”

His mouth twisted further. “It does to me,” he replied simply, and then kissed me on the forehead. “Have a good night, Elsy.” Then he turned on his heel, and left me standing there in front of the loft, regretting my stupid heart, with the taste of him still on my lips.

Even a book boyfriend didn’t want me.

18

Unintended Consequences

THE STARLINGS WERE NOISYin the morning. I groaned and rolled over in bed, feeling my stomach turn. The birds were singing that strange song again, and maybe I would’ve been able to place it if a jackhammer wasn’t going off inside my head, and the birds just made it worse. At that moment, I wasn’t sure what I preferred: a haunted toilet, or the starlings. I tried to bury my head under the pillows, but the second I moved, my stomach flipped again.

And this time it was coming up.

I barely made it to the bathroom in time before I got sick, and still I got sick on my shirt, too. I pried it off and tossed it onto the floor behind me, and pulled up my hair. Pru used to do that when we were in undergrad together. She’d use a mermaid clip, and rub circles on my back, and thank every god she could remember that they’d blessed her without a gag reflex.

After a while, there was a knock on the door. “Elsy?” the familiar voice of Anders called. Oh, good. Exactly the person I wanted to hear me retching the demon out of my body.Why did he have to come up here to check on me? For a second, I yearned for the Anders who hated me, but then I remembered the kiss, and I felt like I wanted to be sick all over again in a different way.

I’d actuallykissedhim, and it was one of those unforgettable sorts of kisses that even house wine couldn’t erase. And then I’d gone and ruined it with my—well, with me beingme. And then I asked him to sleep with me and herejectedme. Oh, god. Oh, fuck.

I could never show my face in this town again.

“I, um, have some tea here. And a doughnut … but I believe you will not want the doughnut,” he added, a little quieter. “I wanted to check in on you. You had … a lot to drink last night.”

I gently sat back against the wall, staring up at the smooth ceiling. My body felt like death. “Yes, yes, I did,” I croaked. “Aren’t you sick?”

“I learned from the house red a while ago,” he replied.

“And you didn’t think to warn me?”

“I tried. Quite a few times last night.”

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