And he pulled me close.
It wasn’t like at the castle. There was no one else. I wasn’t sniping at him. He wasn’t snarking at me.
But his left hand was on my waist, and I felt every single touch.
And his right hand was in my own, fingers curled and dry and warm.
Our feet moved, more elegantly than I’d ever done before.
And his eyes never left mine.
This boy I’d known as Nox.
This man I knew as Ryan.
I thought for a moment, for a singular, shining moment that maybe I could have this. That maybe this could be mine. That maybe, maybe, maybe.
I knew it wasn’t meant to be.
But I allowed myself to think such thoughts.
Because no one else could hear them. They were my own. Like a wish upon stars held in secret hearts.
We danced.
And we danced.
And we danced.
CHAPTER 18
Literally Everyone Eats Breakfast
WE WERE only thirty minutes outside of Tarker Mills when we were attacked.
Again.
Thirty minutes.
Seriously.
Fucking fire geckos.
And Dark wizards.
Fuck everything that wanted to attack us.
Fuck them!
I was being weird toward Ryan, and I knew it. I didn’t know how to not be weird toward him after we danced, because it’d felt like something more. Something substantial. So of course that freaked me out and I started acting weird. Well, weirder.
Example one:
“You okay, Sam?”
“Ha-ha, why wouldn’t I be? Everything is peachy! I’m okay. I’m better than okay.”
“Okay. I only ask because you haven’t stopped staring at me for the last four hours.”