Page 27 of Love in the Lab (Delaneys in Love #2)

My heart seizes. Is she going to walk our second kiss back the way she did the first? I’m not sure I can stand that. I pull my shirt over my head, covering my torso. “We absolutely should talk,” I agree. “But not before we eat breakfast. How do fruit pops sound?”

She lifts her head in surprise, finally looking me in the eye. “For breakfast?”

I grin. “Yeah. They’ll melt soon if we don’t eat them.” I scrunch my forehead in thought. “I think I have strawberry and lemon.”

The corners of her lips tick up. “I’ll have lemon, please.”

“Yes, ma’am. Coming right up.” I straighten and open the freezer, pulling out the boxes of fruit pops as quickly as I can so I can shut the door again. Still cold. That’s a good sign.

I gesture to my small kitchen table, and she takes a seat. I set the boxes of fruit pops in the center of the table. Both boxes have already been opened, with three lemon and two strawberry remaining.

I move back toward the refrigerator and open the door to grab a couple bottles of water.

They’re room temperature, which tells me I’ll have to throw out the half bottle of milk, pound of raw ground beef, and package of deli turkey in there.

I have two or three containers of leftovers, too, but I probably should have already thrown those out weeks ago.

I hand a bottle to Molly and sit in the chair next to hers.

She’s already helped herself to a lemon fruit pop, her tongue popping out from between her lips as she licks it.

The sharp memory of the feel of those lips on mine, that tongue in my mouth, forms like a movie reel in my head.

My heart pounds. Maybe popsicles were a bad idea.

I gulp and tear my gaze away from her mouth. “How’s the charge on your phone?” I ask.

She frowns and looks down at her phone on the table in front of her. “Twenty percent,” she answers. “Oh, and I have a text.” Her eyebrows scrunch together as she reads it. “It’s a notification from my apartment manager. No damage to the building, but the power is out.”

I nod. “Same as here, then. Do you want me to take you home, or…?” Please say no. Please say no.

“No.” She locks eyes with me. “Like I said, we should talk today.”

“Yeah,” I agree reluctantly.

“But first, can we walk outside? Is it safe? I want to see what it looks like.”

“Sure. It’s safe. Hernando came and went quickly. It’s sunny this morning.”

We finish our fruit pops, me using all my restraint to keep my eyes fixed firmly on the kitchen cabinets above Molly’s head. Then, as Molly goes into the bathroom to change her clothes, I plug her phone into the power bank to charge.

Molly reappears in leggings and a fitted T-shirt. We both put on shoes and make our way out of the apartment and onto the sidewalk below.

The first thing I notice as we walk down the block is that it’s much cooler outside. The temperature must have dropped at least ten degrees since yesterday morning. I shiver in my basketball shorts and T-shirt.

The second thing I notice is the fallen tree branches and clumps of Spanish moss littering the sidewalk and street. The fabric of my building’s awning is tattered, strips of it hanging off the frame.

The third thing I notice is Molly slipping her hand into mine, intertwining our fingers. I turn toward her, my mouth hanging open in surprise. “You’re holding my hand.”

She smiles shyly, looking up at me through her eyelashes. “Yeah. Is that okay?”

I squeeze her hand. “For the record, I’m always okay with you touching me.

” I stop walking and turn my body to face her fully.

I bring my free hand between us, enclosing her hand between both of mine.

I study her face. “Are you okay with it? I mean, what does this mean? We kissed again yesterday. Well, ‘kissed’ is probably an understatement, but I know adrenaline was running high, and maybe you regret it now. And then last night, you were scared, so I understand if I was just a source of comfort.”

“Jonathan,” Molly says in a soft voice.

I recognize that I’m rambling, but I can’t seem to stop every thought in my head from pouring out of my mouth.

“Molly, you have to know that I’m so into you.

I don’t … I don’t know if I can handle it if you brush me off again.

” I swallow. “But if that’s what you feel you need to do, I respect that. ” I clamp my mouth shut.

“Are you done?” Molly asks, her eyes sparkling.

My ears warm. “I think so … except to say I think you’re amazing and beautiful and you smell really good, and I can’t stop thinking about your mouth on mine—”

Stepping onto her tiptoes, Molly brushes a kiss across my lips. “Jonathan,” she says again.

“Yeah?” I croak.

“I’m really into you, too. I want to date you, and kiss you, and spend as much time together as possible. Only with you.”

“Only with me,” I repeat dumbly. Then, as the words sink in, a slow grin creeps across my face. “You mean, like, exclusively? Are you asking me to be your boyfriend, Carrots?”

She smirks, pulling her hand away from mine and turning forward again, ready to continue walking. “I mean, if you don’t want to label it…”

“No,” I say quickly, catching her hand in mine again. “Let’s use all the labels. I love labels. The more official, the better.”

She stops walking again and smiles at me. “I like you better like this.”

My eyebrows pull together. “Like what?”

She tilts her head thoughtfully. “Messy. Vulnerable. Real. It makes me feel like you’re just being you, rather than trying to trick me into something.”

I shake my head. “I was never trying to trick you into anything. I just wanted your attention, whether positive or negative.”

“I gave you a lot of negative attention.” She grimaces, and I pull her against my chest in a hug.

“Why did you hate me? What did I do?”

Molly’s cheeks turn red, and she hides her face in my neck. “Honestly?” she asks in a muffled voice.

“Of course.”

She lifts her head and looks me in the eye.

“I’ve always been attracted to you, from our first class together.

But that attraction was a threat to my routine and my rules.

You were a threat.” She shrugs. “It was easier to hate you. Plus, you were kind of a reminder of what I thought I could never have, what I was depriving myself of in pursuit of my goals.”

I smirk. “I was too much of a temptation, so you had to cut me out completely?”

She rolls her eyes. “Something like that.”

I pinch my lips together as I turn serious. “But not anymore, right?”

“No,” Molly says, curling one hand behind my head and pulling my mouth down to hers. “I’m done denying myself. You’re mine now.”

I swallow a moan, heat creeping down my spine. I like the sound of that. A lot.