I open my mouth in surprise.
"Because if you say we can't touch in public, I may need a ten-foot radius and a shock collar to remind me."
I laugh. "So I'm your flaw?"
Grant smiles. "Far from it." He kisses my cheek. "My impulse to kiss you, perhaps."
"Can I think about it?" I ask, still half in this world and half in the realm our kiss created. "I'm still a little ..."
"Lost? Like you're not sure it was real or you were dreaming?" he finishes, completely in sync with what I experienced.
"Exactly," I answer, in awe.
"It was real," he assures me but releases me at the same time. The cool water instantly makes me very aware that this is not a dream as it fills in all the spaces his warm body was pressed against mine.
He floats on his back, kicking his legs to distance himself. I watch, questioning my hesitancy to be with him for everyone to see, even if we're not dating. The black diamonds on my thumb flash in the sunlight as a reminder.
I won't fall in love with him.
He smiles and his eyes twinkle with playful but seductive mischief.
I can't fall in love with him.
He dips his chin in the water and blows bubbles. I laugh.
I shouldn't fall in love with him.
"Stop looking at me like that," he says. "Or I'm going to make up the rules for you." My heart skips a beat at just the thought.
Please stop me from falling in love with him.
Thaylina rose to her feet, in search of the sorceress. Only to find her lifeless body at the bottom of the tower. The entire kingdom shook with the scream the girl released. Thaylina knew that she would forever be cursed with heartache from that day forth.
"Brownies!" Ashton exclaims when Squirrel is about to bite into it. She snatches it from his hand and shoves it into her mouth, tearing off a huge piece. She moans. "They're my favorite," she declares with her mouth full.
"You don't say?" he chuckles, reaching for another from within a plastic bag. "Want one, Lana?"
I take it, and just as I'm chewing my first bite, he adds, "They're magic brownies." I try to stop swallowing, but I can't make it come back up.
Ashton looks at me and laughs. "Oh, no more kisses for you tonight!"
I stare at the evil brownie. "I wish you had told me that, like, ten seconds ago."
"Oh, sorry. I thought Ashton said you were cool with herbs," Squirrel says, sincerely feeling bad.
"I am. I just ... well, screw it." I continue eating it. "It'll make the fireworks that much prettier."
"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Squirrel exclaims like his mind is blown that we shared the same thought.
I glare at Ashton who is still laughing at me. "If I don't get kissed, then neither do you."
"Maybe I'll kiss you then," she snaps back.
We stop. She scrunches her eyes like she's not quite sure she meant to say that.
"I'm not going to hold you to it."
Squirrel nibbles on his brownie, watching us intently like we're the most fascinating creatures he's ever come across.