Dangerous Kiss (Dangerous Noise 1)

"You have to promise," she whispers.

"Promise what, Vi?"

"You have to promise. I have to know you mean it." She looks up at me with all this intention in her green eyes. "Will you promise?"

"Promise what?"

"I want to be with you, Ethan. You have to promise you'll be with me too." Her voice gets sleepy. "You have to promise you'll be mine. Promise…"

"I promise."

Her breath slows. Her muscles go slack.

Violet is asleep in my arms.

She's mine.

The white light of a cloudy morning is streaming through the curtains. The bed is warm. Warmer than it should be.

That's not the bed. It's Violet.

She's burning up.

She blinks her eyes open and looks at me. Then her eyes are closed as she lets out a deep cough.

I press the back of my hand against her forehead.

"Your skin is so cool." She turns to cough into her shoulder. "Shit."

"You have a thermometer?" I ask.

"No."

"You're hot."

She groans. "My head hurts too much for me to make a joke about that." She falls back into bed and pulls the covers to her chest. "Do I sound as congested as I feel?"

She does, but I'm not going to tease her when she looks this miserable.

I plant a kiss on her forehead. "I'll check if you have cough medicine."

Her lips curl into a tiny smile. "Thanks, Ethan." She rolls over in the bed. "I hope I don't have to spend our weekend in bed."

"That was my plan."

She laughs. "But not the fun way."

"It's fun if I'm with you."

"You're cheesy."

"You like it."

I pull on my boxers—don't want to scare Violet's roommate—and head to the bathroom. The medicine cabinet and counters are packed to the brim with makeup and hair products, but the only medicine in here is ibuprofen.

After I do my usual morning routine, I head back to Violet's room.

She pulls the covers down to look at me. "It's not good, huh?"