Page 61 of Melt for You (Slow Burn 2)
Eyes in a face I’ve ever seen.
So starkly seductive they are,
A gaze straight from a lovely dream
With a shine like a brilliant star.
And lashes long and curved and dark
As soot and devils’ souls,
All my resistance is a lark,
These knees are weak as a newborn foal’s.
I beg of you, my burning Sun,
With this poor heart you’ll soon be done.
When I open my eyes, it’s light outside, and my head is perfectly clear. I sit up carefully, worried the room is about to spin, but everything stays stable. I feel no trace of headache or nausea.
I run to my desk, pull out my sonnet book, and quickly scribble down the words in my head.
When I’m done, I read it aloud, then frown at the first line. “It should say blue. Michael’s eyes are blue.” I scratch out the words green, gold, and brown, and insert cobalt, azure, and sapphire.
It feels wrong. And clunky. Too many syllables, too embellished, too much. So I rewrite the original line again, above the one I’ve scratched out, and stare at it.
Green, gold, and brown equals hazel. In my sleep, I composed a sonnet about hazel eyes. “He put something funny in that drink,” I accuse the book.
“What’s that?”
I slam the book shut with a strangled little scream because Cam is standing at my bedroom door. “Nothing! What are you doing here?”
He jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Watchin’ ESPN with the cat. Why’re you shoutin’?” His gaze drops to my sonnet book.
I shout, “I’m not shouting!” and throw the book into the top drawer of my desk, slamming it closed so hard the whole desk shakes.
“Uh-huh. That didn’t look guilty at all.”
His smile is like acid on my nerves. I jump up from the chair, smooth my hands over my hair, and try to compose myself. “I thought you left.”
“You thought wrong.”
He’s still looking at the drawer I threw the sonnet book into, so I move in front of it, crossing my arms over my chest. He glances at me, his smile growing wider.
“Okay, I’ll let it go. For now. How’d you sleep?”
“Fine. Amazing, actually. I shouldn’t feel this good after all that wine. What was in your homemade potion?”
“It’s a secret. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
When I just stand there staring at him, he relents. “Ginger, raw honey, flaxseed, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, B vitamins, other stuff. Whips up in the blender in no time.”
“You’re quite the blender master, aren’t you?”
“It was my mum’s recipe. They all are.” A cloud passes over his face. He looks away, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
“What time is it?” I ask, to change the obviously unwelcome subject.
