Page 97 of Lethal Attraction

“Did you make this?” I ask with wonder.

Thalia tucks her head, hiding her embarrassment. “Yeah, it’s not my best work.”

I blanch. “Not your best work? Are you kidding me? Now I have to see your best, because I don’t think anything could beat this. It’s amazing, Thalia.”

She glances up at me quickly, surprise on her features. “Really? You think so?”

“Absolutely. It’s so…you. I love it.” I reach a hand out to it, feeling the yarn between my fingers. “It’s like butter! I need my own.”

Something akin to pride and joy sparks across her face. “I can make you one. I have a whole basket of different-colored yarns.”

“You would do that for me?”

She caps the cream, looking away from me with a shrug. “Of course. It’s kind of my love language—” she stops abruptly, her eyes shooting to mine as she panics. “N-not that I love you or anything!”

Fuck, she’s so adorable when she gets flustered.

I lean towards her, resting my chin in my palm as I hum. “Mhm. Keep telling yourself that, pretty girl.”

She presses her hand to my cheek, shoving me away. “Stop looking at me like that!”

“But I love looking at you,” I tease as I take her fingers in mine and kiss her knuckles.

She tucks her head, her eyes screwing shut as her cheeks flame and she groans. “Stop it!”

I take her chin between my free fingers, forcing her to look up at me as I smile. “There’s my girl.”

She melts, her shoulders drooping as she goes pliant against me. Her arms fold over my knee as she rests her head on my thigh and I brush my fingers through her strands. Her eyes flutter closed, and we bask in the silence as we unwind from the scene we’ve slowly been coming out of this morning.

It feels so nice to have her on me—her skin beneath mine, the warmth we share, and just to be in her presence. It’s like being rewarded for something I never knew I needed until her.

She hums with contentment as I massage her scalp with my fingers. I rest my head back against the sofa, my eyes drifting over to the stand beside me. There, in a glass case, is something I’m not expecting. Something that sparks my interest.

“Is that Actias Luna?”

Thalia’s head whips up, her eyes wide and alert. “You know the scientific name for the Luna Moth?”

I huff a laugh, reaching out for the casing and holding it gently in my hands as I observe the magnificent pale, Seafoam green wings. “Are you kidding me? The summer before college, I couldn’t decide what major I wanted to pursue. I kept going back and forth between healthcare and entomology. My mom begged me not to become a bug freak.” The fond memory washes over me, sadness tugging deep in my gut. “In the end, I chose healthcare to honor my parents. They died in a car crash a week before my first semester started…”

Thalia’s gasp is light as she reaches a hand out and places it on my knee. “Oh, Reed…I’m so sorry.”

I give her a small smile of reassurance. “I miss them every day, but I don’t regret the path I chose. It helps me feel closer to them sometimes.”

And I found you because of it…

Thalia rests her head back on my thigh, her eyes soft. “They would be so proud of you.”

Hearing the woman I’m falling for say something like that makes my heart twinge. In my mind’s eye, I can only imagine if she had been able to meet them. My mom would have loved her, welcoming her into our family home with wide arms open and a plate already fixed at the dinner table. Dad would have pulled me aside, already a million steps ahead with how to do my proposal. And I wouldn’t stop him either. I would sit down and listen to every idea he spouted as he waved his hands and talked excitedly about expanding our family.

They were good through and through, and it’s heartbreaking to know they’ll never get to meet Thalia. They would have loved her so deeply…

I brush her hair behind her ear, releasing a shaky breath as I fight past the stinging in the bridge of my nose. “They would have loved you so much.”

Her eyes become glassy and she quickly swipes the first tear away. “Do you visit them often?”

I nod. “I’m overdue for another visit to their graves. I like to bring them flowers for every holiday.”

She peers up at me, so much genuine affection in her eyes. “I would love to meet them.”