Never Sweeter (Dark Obsession #1)(13)

He even looked that way, in the dim light of the narrow hallway between these offices.

His hair was the color of caramel, just as it started to burn. Every item of clothing suited him perfectly, from the rich gray-blue of his V-neck to the jeans he’d tucked into his sandy boots. He exuded cool from every pore; he could have stepped off the cover of a magazine.

Yet all she could see was his face as it slowly sagged. It was like watching someone cut the strings that had held a mask in place—a mask she hadn’t known he was wearing. She thought that smiling golden god who had tormented her was the real him, but for a second she couldn’t be sure. Just for one heart-rattling second, and then the door to the office opened and that glimpse of something else was gone—so fast she would imagine later that it had never existed.

It was just a trick of the light.

Better to focus on the real and the now.

“What can I do for you two today?” Professor Harrison asked.

Then she took a breath and answered.

“Nothing,” she said.





Chapter 7


She agreed to meet him on neutral ground to start with. The only problem was, it didn’t really feel like neutral ground once she got there. The quiet of the library was suddenly stifling, and the spot he’d chosen was isolated and closed in. It was right at the back, between two towering shelves that shielded them completely from view. She took a step into that sheltered space and felt as though she’d dropped off the face of the earth.

There wasn’t even a window.

There was just the dim quiet, rows of falling-apart books, and Tate Sullivan standing in the corner, like an ogre lying in wait for the easily duped damsel. The only thing that stood in the way was a table and two chairs, neither of which seemed like a good enough defense.

If he sat on one chair and she sat on the other, their knees would probably touch.

Their hands would most likely brush as they handed each other books.

She had to think fast, before any of that happened.

“Okay, before we get started—there have to be some ground rules.”

He shrugged one big shoulder.

“I figured as much. Shoot.”

“First of all…no sudden moves.”

“What kind of sudden moves do you think I’m going to make?”

“Handing me a book when I’m not prepared. Waving a hand in my face if I start to fall asleep. Touching my arm to draw my attention to something.”

“What if I just promise to do those things in a way that does not seem murderous?”

“Everything you do seems murderous to me. Literally everything.”

“I could try moving super slowly like this,” he said.

He actually demonstrated, inching toward a book on the table in such an exaggerated manner it made her want to laugh. Then he pretended to nod in agreement with the book’s contents in that exact walking-through-mud way, and that want to laugh got even harder.

She had to cover her mouth before she spoke.

“If anything, that doubles the murderousness. It makes you look like the bit in the movie when the bad guy isn’t really dead and swings for the heroine in slow motion.”

“I want to argue here, but that actually makes a lot of sense.”

“I know, right? Thank you,” she said, but he wasn’t ready to give up.

After a second of absurdly visible thinking, he snapped his fingers.

“What about if I make a warning sound?”

“Like a truck backing up?”

“Exactly.”

“I fear it will just give me the chance to murder you first.”

“You have absolutely no chance of murdering me first. I mean, you’re half my size and nowhere near as fast,” he said, half laughing as he did.

But once he glanced back at her, the half laughing stopped dead.

He saw her face—most probably tight with sudden alarm—and it was like a switch had been flipped.

“Not that any of that is a bad thing. Or a thing that I’m about to take advantage of. Is that how it just seemed? Like I was explaining exactly how I’m going to kill you?”

“It kind of had a whiff of that, yeah.”

“Okay, so what about this: I show you ways to nail me.”

“You…want to show me ways to…nail you.”

“I’m just going to breeze right by the double meaning of nailed and say yes. Absolutely yes.”

“You can’t be serious. Are you serious?”

“I am. First up, this knee right here?” He pointed to the offending body part, while lifting it a little so she could really see. “You could probably blow on it and put me down.”

“If that were true I reckon you would lose a lot more wrestling matches.”

“I don’t lose matches because no one knows my right leg is basically made of glass and sawdust. Half of wrestling is hiding your weaknesses so your opponent can never exploit them.”

“This must be pretty weird for you then. Describing exactly how I can do just that.”

“Actually it feels more like bursting a blister. Sort of painful but mostly a huge relief.”

“Because you always wanted to tell me how to bust your chops?”

She intended sarcasm, she really did. She intended it hard.