Page 19 of Psychotic Obsession

So I guess I’ll enjoy the view while it lasts.

Her hair is flowing down her back, and I have the urge to wrap the strands around my fingers and bring them to my nose to smell her shampoo. Whenever she answers one of my questions about work, she gives me eye contact, and I feel like itwould be completely out of line to tell her she has beautiful blue eyes, that I want to see them roll while I?—

“When did you start working at the hospital?”

I rub the back of my head, unsure how to word it. How do I tell this girlI didn’t study like she did and basically got handed the position?

“A few years,” I say, gulping deeply. “I started part time, and when I grew an interest, I switched to full time.” I shrug and drop my hand, shoving it into my pocket to stop the fidgeting. “How about you? When did you realize you wanted to work in that field?”

I already know. Thanks to my digging, I found Gabriella’s mother on social media, and she shared a “throwback” of Aria and her daughter going to college. She captioned itasher little scientists.

Aria is talking, but I can’t think straight, because we’ve walked right past her hotel. If she realizes, she might cut this short. If I try to distract her from the fact we’ve already reached our destination, this ends, and I’m not ready.

I have all of her attention.

I like having her attention.

She rubs her hands up her arms, and I internally slap my forehead, because she’s cold, and I have a jacket.

I pull it off and hand it to her, and as confusion flashes over her face, I cover her shoulders and watch it drench her body.

“You're cold.”

“So the assistant is a gentleman.”

If that’s what you want to call someone who just met you yet knows more about you than you do and can’t seem to get your face out of his head, fine, yeah, I’m a fucking gentleman.

Every organ in my body stops functioning as she lifts the collar of my jacket to her face and inhales. “What cologne is that?”

Fuck. “Tom Ford.”

“I like it,” she replies with a smile and smells it again. “I might need to keep your jacket forever.”

I fist my hands and push both of them into my pockets, staying silent. If I don’t contain them, I’ll do something stupid, like grabbing her face and kissing her–which is weird, since I hate kissing. It’s messy and useless, and the thought of passing saliva by touching tongues makes me uneasy.

I think I’d kiss her, though.

Part of me wants to know what her spit tastes like. I’d lick her body, suck on her tongue, and then bury my face between her?—

“Gabriella always says I need to loosen up, but I think you might take the crown for that. It was a joke, Tobias.” I gulp as she smiles and nudges me. “And we walked past my hotel like ten minutes ago.”

“You want to walk back?” I ask, stopping, my eyes following her as she keeps going.

She shakes her head. “Nope. I’m going to check out the arcade nearby. Do you want to come?”

Where the fuck are her communication skills? She’s a scientist on the frontline of cutting edge research, yet she couldn’t mention when we left the restaurant that she wanted to go to an arcade?

Regardless of the sudden plan sprung on me and making my skin itch, I nod and follow her as rain starts to pour.

She tries to give me my jacket back, but I decline. My white shirt is basically see-through, and my glasses have droplets all over them, but I refuse to take it from her.

“There!” she calls out, pointing to an arcade with lights flashing outside.

In all honesty, the thought of going in there makes me want to vomit, but the light shining in her eyes has her looking full of life, a massive change from being fully invested in work. Ilike thisshining side of her as she grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the entrance.

The touch doesn’t burn like it would with someone else. I don’t have the urge to snap her fingers or scrub myself with bleach until my skin turns red.

The noise is the first thing that irks me. Music plays like we’re at some sort of concert, lights dimmed, everything glowing neon. She turns and smiles up at me, her teeth glowing white from the fluorescent lighting.