Page 41 of Love, Morgan

“If you say so,” she said, taking my fork again, her fingers brushing mine with far too much electricity as she did so. “She was stealing food directly from your plate. Seems pretty intimate if you ask me.”

“You’re stealing food directly from my plate,” I said, not stopping to consider whether pointing it out was a good idea or not.

In my defense, she was trailing my fork along her bottom lip again, and that was achingly distracting and infinitely more intimate than stealing pineapple with a pincer grip.

She smirked at me, my fork pressed tight between her lips, and her head tilted down slightly so she was looking up at me through lashes that were far thicker and more alluring than I’d ever consciously noticed before.

My whole mouth went dry again. A very different kind of dry. The bottom dropped out of my stomach. And, when she winked, I was pretty sure that was how I was going to die.

Chapter 13

Morgan

Iprobably shouldn’t be flirting with Iona quite so obviously, but I wanted to, and why would I deny myself what I wanted? Especially when she looked so cute when her brain stopped working.

In truth, I wasn’t sure what possessed me to help myself to her fork and her food, but it felt like the right thing to do. It felt natural. And, when I watched the way her brain malfunctioned as she traced the path of her fork over my lips, I really couldn’t help but enjoy it.

Actually, maybe I did know what had possessed me. Thalia. From the front desk.

She’d seemed nice enough at check-in, and even when I’d interrupted her apparently joining Iona for breakfast, but something fiery and ugly tore at my insides at the way she’d been so close to Iona and how she helped herself to food from Iona’s plate. That was something couples did, not random employees.

I wasn’t ignorant enough to miss the fact that I was jealous. A rare emotion for me because I had everything I wanted and needed, and because I’d never really been interested in anyone romantically before. Sure, that was probably unusual to many people, but I’d been busy getting away from my family, living the life I wanted to, and I’d never met anyone who made me feel like my life would be better with them in it. And that was my metric. I knew exactly what having the wrong people in my life felt like, so I’d always known I didn’t want anyone there who didn’t make it better.

Then I’d found The Pretty Gift, and, sure, I’d lost sleep watching her, but my life had been better for having her in it. Now, she was here, and life was better with her in it. So jealousy, at the possibility that she might be having a fling with Thalia, was normal, right?

Her reactions, though, made me smile. She liked Thalia, and seemed oddly surprised that people wanted to be her friend, but she didn’t behave with Thalia like she did with me, and that made me feel on top of the world.

She blinked, swallowing convulsively, and a triumphant part of me burned deliciously.

It took a few attempts, and she still couldn’t take her eyes away from my lips, but, finally, she choked out, “Do you want to get some breakfast of your own?”

I smiled at her, catching the tiniest bite of my lip between my teeth. I didn’t know where this part of me had come from, but I was glad to know it existed if it made Iona look likethat.“Don’t you want to share with me?”

That expression like her soul was leaving her body crossed her face again. “I do. I do. I… do.”

“Great.”

“I just thought you might want something… more.”

I groaned internally. Was she doing that on purpose? Or was it just my mind running away with itself, imagining a whole life of possibilities with her?

Did I want something more? Yes. I wanted everything with her.

I handed her fork back. “Sure. I’m going to get pancakes. Do they have pancakes? I never get food this early.”

“Uh, yeah. They have pancakes.” She blinked, as though coming back to herself and fighting the embarrassment at her own reaction—she didn’t need to be embarrassed. She was the best thing I’d ever seen.

“Great. I’m going to get pancakes, then.”

“Wait,” she called as I stood up, reaching out to grab my hand.

I looked down at the place where we were connected. It wasn’t the first time we’d touched, but it was the first time she’d touched me on purpose. Waves of wanting her coursed through my entire body.

“Sorry.” She pulled her hand back, looking down at the table. “I was, um, just wondering why you’re up so early today?”

I grinned at her, forcing all of my soft feelings down. “Because we’ve got a mystery to solve.”

“What?”

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