Page 93 of Love Unwritten

“We don’t really have a relationship. At least not a normal one.”

“On that, we can both agree.” The feelings she is slowly dragging out of me don’t feel normal. In fact, they feel pretty damn scary.

Her heavy exhale draws my gaze toward her chest again.

She clears her throat, and I look up without a hint of shame. Pretending I don’t find her attractive is useless, so why bother hiding it?

“Are we going to have a problem here?” she asks with a hint of a rasp.

“Do you want there to be one?”

She is the one to look away first. “This was a bad idea.”

Good thing she doesn’t have access to my thoughts because I have a hundred bad ideas playing on repeat.

“You could leave,” I suggest without actually meaning it.

“So could you.”

“Yeah, not happening.”

“I was here first.” She kicks her leg out and splashes my face with water.

Before she pulls back, I latch on to her foot and yank hard enough to send her sprawling. She curses as she is pulled underwater, only to break through the bubbling surface with a scowl a couple of seconds later. “I was trying to keep my hair dry.”

“My bad.”

Next thing I know, water splashes against my face and hair.

I fake a gasp. “Ugh. There goes my blowout.”

The look of pure outrage on her face makes me laugh.

Her upper lip curls. “You’re such an asshole.”

“We’ve got to work on your insults, Elle. They’re growing a bit stale.”

“Don’t call me that,” she seethes.

“Why? Are you afraid you’ll start liking it?” Based on the way she softens every time I use it, I already know the truth. She can pretend to despise the shortened name, but her eyes give her away.

“It’s dumb.”

“The nickname? Or the way you react every time I say it?”

Her eyes narrow. “You’re in a mood tonight.”

After Nico asked me to tuck him into bed tonight and read him a story, I feel like I’m living on cloud nine, so hell yeah, I’m in a mood. A great one, in fact.

“It’s called being happy. Try it with me.”

“Are you high?”

“No, but that could be fun.”

She gapes at me.

“What?”