Apple of My Eye (Tiger's Eye Mystery #7) - Alyssa Day Page 0,31

Dead End. It sounds like quite a unique little town."

"You have no idea," Jack said fervently, and they laughed.

Ven called to the portal, right there on the terrace, and this time I only hesitated a little before taking Jack's hand and stepping into the magic.

The world spun around me again in a whirl of sound and light, and then we stepped out onto my front lawn. I thanked the portal again, but this time it was silent, and then I watched as it vanished.

"Did that really happen?" I turned to Jack, who still held my hand. "Did we really have dinner in Atlantis?"

"We did," he said, pulling me closer and putting his arms around me. "Which raises a big problem."

"I… what's that?" My breath caught in my throat as he bent his head and smiled, his face only inches from mine.

He flashed a grin. "How am I ever going to top that for a second date?"

I blinked and then burst out laughing. "I don't think it's possible. You're going to need to—"

But I lost all idea of what I'd been about to tell him, because suddenly his mouth was on mine, and he was kissing me.

Only for a few seconds, and then he stopped and drew in a rasping breath. "Is this okay?"

I nodded and put my arms around his waist. "Yes," I whispered, and then he kissed me again, and the world dissolved into a burst of magic and music and lights, until I felt like we must be in the portal again. He kept kissing me, and I kissed him right back, there on my front lawn, in the moonlight, and I had a fleeting thought that things like this evening did not happen to ordinary small-town girls like me.

I put my hands on the sides of his face and held him and wondered how I'd ever thought I'd been kissed before, with this to compare it to.

After a while later that I was too dazed to measure in seconds or minutes or days, Jack lifted his head and stared down at me, disbelief or shock widening his eyes.

"What was that?"

"I—what?"

He shook his head and stepped back. "Oh, boy. I think we're in trouble here, Tess. I didn't expect that."

I blinked, still feeling a little dizzy. "I don't know what you mean. You didn't expect what?"

"I didn't expect one kiss to make me completely lose my bearings," he said, a glassy look in his eyes. "Maybe we should—"

But I didn't get to find out what we should maybe do, because the breeze picked up just then, and Jack's head whipped to the side, and then he snarled and raced over to my front porch.

I felt my entire body slump.

No.

Not again. I did not want to go from the best date in the history of the world to the best kiss in the history of the universe to more stalker horribleness.

He held up a large, wrapped box.

Damn.

"It's the same guy," he said grimly, his mouth a flat line. "It's the same gift wrap. Same note about how you're the apple of his eye."

I sighed and then made myself follow him to the porch. "What's in it?"

Jack yanked the cover off and looked inside, but then his scowl turned to a puzzled frown. "What is this about?"

"What is it?" I was afraid to ask, but I needed to know.

Jack looked up at me, his eyebrows raised. "It's three logs from palm tree trunks."

"No body parts? No jewelry?"

He shook his head.

I looked into the box myself, unable to resist.

Huh.

"My stalker sent me a box of swamp cabbage. This is getting weirder and weirder."

"And not how I wanted to end our date," he growled. "Calling the sheriff. Again."

I sighed and unlocked my front door. "Well. Like you said, it's going to be hard to top this for our second date."

He followed me inside and put the box down on a side table and then gave me a steady look. "Are we going to have a second date?"

I didn't even hesitate for one second. "Absolutely. Now call the sheriff while I run to the bathroom to change clothes."

Actually, what I really needed was to make it to my bathroom, fast. I hadn't quite been able to bring myself to ask to use the palace bathroom.

When I was washing my hands, I suddenly stared at myself in the mirror. It felt like I should look different. I wasn't only Tess of Dead End, now, I was Tess who'd met the king and Prince of