Covet (Sinful Secrets 3)

“A runner up of sorts.”

“Dark blue.”

“The color of a dark sea? I’ll accept that.”

He smirks. “What about you, Siren? I gave you two, now I want two.”

“That’s easy, and you’ll see that mine are valid. Green and purple.”

“Favorite food?”

Our path veers rightward, running flat as we traverse the peak’s significant width. Frost gleams on the vegetation. Out to our right, sprawling past the fog-dappled valley, we can see the ocean stretching on for eons.

“That’s a bit of a tough call. Perhaps a York Peppermint Patty. That’s my favorite thing I eat consistently. As well as apples, I suppose. And yourself?”

I feel a tremor in his hand and squeeze it slightly. “I guess maybe tacos.”

“We don’t eat that here really.”

He blinks down at me. “Someday.”

“What does that mean…someday?”

“Someday I’ll come get you in a plane and take you to get tacos.”

I laugh. “You can’t land a plane here. There’s no air strip.”

“Not all planes need landing strips.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard.”

He smiles. “Trust me on this, Siren. Planes are my hobby.”

I file that bit away, meaning to ask more later. For now, I stick to topic. “Where would you take me to get a taco? Mexico?”

“New York.”

I laugh, and he looks abashed. “I know it doesn’t sound authentic, but New York City’s got the best taco place. It’s not in Mexico, but the owners are from down there. Now I want some,” he says, husky.

“What have you been eating here?”

I feel his shoulder lift on a shrug. “Different stuff.”

“What’s been your favorite?”

“I don’t know. It was all pretty good.”

I rub my finger up along the side of his wrist, where I can always see a bone protruding. His body is so different than my own, even his wrists and hands. “I worry you should eat more.”

He laughs at that, and lifts one dark brow at me. “Wasting away, huh?”

“Well, of course not. But I worry for you. I’m a worrier, I suppose.”

“I’m good.”

Our arms bump lightly as the path curves in its zigzag, headed back the other way now.

“Are you really, though?” I stroke his knuckles with my fingertips and feel his fingers tremble.