Ophelia London

We're not thirteen and this isn't a locker room." "Fine, fine. Just remember, I had to watch Dr. Phil with Mom for two months after I had knee surgery. I'm practically a psychiatrist.

I love hugging you," Luke said. "I love how our bodies fit when we're still...I feel like a broken record when I say I know there are a hundred reasons why we shouldn't but Nat, I really want to kiss you.

Hmmm, you like that," he whispered, his breath hot and intoxicating. "I like ... everything.

Luke's eyes were on a government position in DC, while all Natalie wanted was help make the world a sweeter place.

She lifted her chin; her head weighed fifty pounds. "You tried to poison me." Pretty sure I succeeded in that.

The way he looked at her made her heart beat fast. "I like you, Natalie." She could not let that mean anything to her. "That's natural. I'm likable.

He pointed past her shoulder. "We're surrounded by neighbors. Though once I have you inside, the walls are thick. You'll have to scream really loud for anyone to hear.

Hey," Natalie said. "You're here early." "It's almost seven. Why are you covered in chocolate? Your clothes and your...your face. Both your faces." Luke looked at Natalie, really looked at her. Yep, she was smeared with chocolate like it was camo paint, transferred from his mouth to hers and back again too many times to count. "We were..." Natalie began. "We were just ---" "Sampling," Luke cut in. If Natalie had wanted Ivy to know, she would've come straight out with it. Ivy crossed her arms. "Sampling?" "Yeah, I'm interested in her...product. So she let me, uh, try some." Wow, he couldn't have sounded kinkier if he'd tried. "But it's all over the floor on that side of the lab. Like, all over the place. It's even on the wall. How did it get on the ceiling? You must be one sloppy eater.

You're head can't do a relationship and my heart can't.

Though there're minor side effects in male adults." "What side effect?" She cocked an eyebrow and lowered her voice. "Spontaneous prolonged erection, big guy...in some test subjects," she added clinically. "A lot of those early tests were done on gorillas... "I'm not a gorilla." She glanced down the front of his lab coat. "Not yet.

Luke snapped awake to see the gray-haired woman looking at him while adjusting her glasses. She smiled like he was something to eat. "There aren't many good shots of you when Natalie was on your lap. She's either leaning over you, or you're at her neck like Bela Lugosi. Though there's one really good part at the end ---

Your head can't do a relationship and my heart can't.

No one who's been into music ever really stops being into it. It's in your soul forever. Maybe it gets buried deep under piles of shit for a while, but it's always there, waiting to make you happy again.

She kissed her teenage fantasy, the popular boy she used to dream would see something special in her and love her forever. The man kissed her back.

You have no idea what I'm thinking," he said. "No idea what I'm feeling --- about you." He walked to her, reached out and touched her cheek. "But we both need to find out.

Much to her dismay, he was even better looking up close. The kind of sexy that made panties fly on stage. The kind of sexy that made her want to say, __crew you!_ to her twenty-four more man-less days.

If I kissed her now, one of two things would happen. We__ either get naked right here on the beach and probably get arrested, or I__ somehow manage to get us up the hill to my house, and then we__ get naked. But kissing her once, then letting her go. That_wasn__ possible. I couldn__ kiss her then go back to my ordinary life. I wasn__ Superman. If I was, though, the girl in my arms was more lethal to me than kryptonite.

Miles jogged off, leaving her alone in the large and quiet room. Aimee stood still, waiting for her mind and heart to go back to normal, return to how she felt a week ago before seeing Miles again.But they didn__. Or wouldn__. She put both hands over her pounding heart, exhaled, and sank into a chair. Nut-burgers. Now what?