Page 40 of Moist!
chapter eleven
LYRA
“Girl, where have you been all week?” Nikita glances over the cubicle wall at me, one purple brow slicing upward in apparent suspicion. “Also, you’re glowing. Oh my gods!” Her black-painted mouth drops open. “Are you hooking up with someone?! Who is it? Is it Kenny from Accounting?”
I snort at that idea. Kenny, the minotaur from Accounting, is absolutely nice and totally uninteresting.
“No and no,” I confirm. I don’t consider Nef a hookup at all. I never have. He’s…different. He’s special. And what happened between us last night was special too. I felt it in the deepest, most quiet parts of my soul.
Zayzia needles me for a further quarter hour until the clock strikes five and I manage to extricate myself while packing my shit up. On the way out of the office, I hit the nearest noodle spot and grab two tubs full of slippery noodles to take to the lake.
The walk seems longer than usual as I haul the bags and my work stuff. I didn’t bother to drop it off at home today. I want to see him so badly.
As I get closer to the lake, strange smells waft toward me. It almost smells like cooking fish, but that can’t be right. Nobody camps here and Nef doesn’t cook .
Yet when I round a corner, he’s there in all his coily tall glory, hunched over a roaring fire with several fish filets popping on a thin stone. Raggedy bunches of onions sizzle next to the filets.
When I appear, he whips around in apparent concern. Seeing that it’s me, his black lips pull into a fanged smile as he waves at the cooking stone.
“My turn to provide something for you,” he says quietly, the smile falling a little bit. “I couldn’t tell you not to bring dinner because I had the idea as you were leaving, but maybe we can trade off who cooks.” The smile curves downward into a full frown. “Admittedly, I’m low on options.”
My heart swells with joy at the fact that he even tried to do something to me, and I beam as I walk into the clearing and set the to-go bag onto my usual sitting rock.
“It smells amazing, Nef.” I go to him and wrap my arms around his waist.
He slides down lower so I can move my arms up around his neck instead. Foreheads pressed together, he nuzzles the tip of my nose with his.
“I don’t know when you’ll get bored with hanging out by the lakeshore with me, but I’m cherishing these moments, Lyra. And last night? I dreamt about it all night and thought about it all day. What a gift you gave me.”
I brush my lips against his, equally grateful for last night’s connection.
“It was more than just pleasure, though, wasn’t it?” I pull back and stare deep into his orblike eyes.
Nef scans my face, his expression softening as one side of his beautiful mouth curves up. “Yes.”
It’s a simple answer. The simplest answer. And it’s everything I needed to hear to reassure myself that I didn’t make him up. That I didn’t make last night up.
“I can’t lay the world at your feet, Lyra,” he says, tone soft and sorrowful.
“I can’t even take you out dancing or cook dinner in your rooms.” He sinks lower until he’s slightly below me, staring raptly up at me.
“But I can serve you dinner, and I’d like to do that with whatever you brought.
” He reaches a hand around my back and slides it up to my neck, gripping it lightly. “What do you say?”
My answering smile is so big it hurts my cheeks. “I’d be delighted, Nef. Thank you.”