Page 92 of The Comedown

“Yeah. Get Bare.” If she’s taking Holter, I want Bare with them. No exceptions anymore.

Collette shakes her head, snatching her purse off a table to pull out bills of her own. Handing the cash to Irelynn, she takes the Benjamins I gave her assistant and shoves them into my heaving chest. She never wants anything from me.

She never wants anything from me.

“Just pick something up and bring it back here. You can all eat on the way.”

There’s not a restaurant on this planet that has what I really want, but after what she just went through, Collette’s eating, and the quickest way to get her to do it is if I eat, too, so I tell Irelynn, “Get us both burgers. We’re eating on the way.”

We both watch in silence as everybody files past us until Holter gives me a shy grin, then I ruffle his hair, telling him we’ll catch up later. I don’t want him to think I’m ignoring him, I just gotta take care of his mom first.

Once we’re alone, Collette turns for the kitchen, acting like I didn’t just empty the bus for us to talk.

“Collette?” I try, but she doesn’t acknowledge me as she opens and closes the microwave. It’s empty but she opens it and closes it a second time, stalling. Avoiding. Another one of my specialties.

“Collette,” I say firmer, and something about my tone gets her to stop. Quieter, I ask, “What are you feeling right now?”

One second her back’s to me, the next her lips are pressed to mine, not in the teasing way we’ve done before either. This is full-on motherfucking kissing.

Kissing? She’s really kissing me?

It takes another second for my brain to catch up to what’s actually happening. Collette’s kissing me.

She tastes exactly like that first time stepping foot on her bus…like home. My home. That’s why I didn’t recognize it. I’ve never felt like I had one to really know.

Until now.

I drop the cash in my hand, wanting to deepen the kiss, wanting to hold her to me, but she pulls back just as quickly. All I do is freeze—everything—nervous if I even move, I’ll break whatever spell she must be under.

Her own hand comes up and she runs her fingertips over my jawline, up into my hair, gripping the strands roughly. My eyes close, savoring the shit out of the feeling because I’ve never felt anything better…until… Until I feel her tongue lick from my chin up to my nose, making the saying “I licked it, so it’s mine” come to mind, then I have to lock my muscles up to keep from returning the gesture because I wouldn’t settle for just her face. I’d lick Collette from head to fucking toe. Twice for good measure. Thrice just because.

“Looks like trouble, tastes like fun.

Sweet and sour against my tongue.”

Her voice is raspy, then she repeats my words from earlier, whispering, “Let me see.”

I obey her command as if I was born to serve her every whim.

“See what?”

“Your new tattoo.”

I go to twist my head so she can get a better look, but her hold on my hair keeps me from moving.

“Why a honeypot?”

Fuck.

“Do you know anything about Egyptian mythology?”

“They liked honey?”

“I don’t know about that.” I chuckle through the tightness in my chest. How’s she gonna take this? “I’m talking about the goddess Isis and her husband, Osiris. Their brother—”

“Their? They were siblings?”

Another strained chuckle. We’re not off to a great start here.