Number Neighbors - Emma Hart Page 0,21

open my mouth and deepen the kiss,

Somehow, I resisted.

Only just.

I exhaled when he pulled away, leaving my lips feeling cold and lonely without his touch.

“Don’t forget what I said. Two drops of the medicine in the morning, a pinch of the powder with lunch.”

Wait, what?

I blinked at the space where he just was, and I’d only just focused both my gaze and my brain when the door swung shut.

This time, he really had left.

And of course, he’d been talking about Lucifer’s medicine.

I touched my fingertips to my lips and ran my teeth over the lower one, tugging at a piece of loose skin at the side.

Isaac had kissed me.

I’d just kissed Isaac.

Butterflies went crazy inside my tummy, and I felt like a teenage girl who’d just discovered her crush liked her, too.

I had no idea what to do with this feeling, so I just stood there like a freaking idiot in my hallway, staring at the front door.

“Jesus,” I breathed after a long moment. I shook my head to clear my brain of the fog that’d settled there.

I needed to get my shit together, or I’d be in bits within hours.

I locked the front door so Isaac couldn’t play anymore appearing tricks, then went back into the living room. Lucifer was now curled up in the spot I’d been sitting in, and a glance at the clock told me it was probably a good time to brush my teeth and watch Netflix in bed, because I had nothing else to do tonight.

And absolutely, positively, totally, not sext Isaac.

That was not going to happen.

I turned everything off in the living room and, after checking Lucifer had fresh water, I went upstairs where I went through the motions of my bedtime routine. Teeth, makeup removal, face washing, pants removal…

Climbing into bed, I snuggled under the covers and turned on my TV, then reached for my phone. There was an unread message, and I didn’t need to tap the notification to know who it was from.

No sexting, I repeated to myself inside my head. Keep your hands out of your pants, Hannah.

I opened the text and laughed out loud.

ISAAC: Kissing you wasn’t the best idea. Now I feel like I NEED to sext you.

ME: Not happening, buddy.

ISAAC: I know. Can I come back over?

ME: I thought you were a gentleman.

ISAAC: I am. My hard on is not.

I laughed again, rolling onto my front so I could type easier without the worry I’d drop my phone on my face.

We’d all done it, okay?

ME: Your hard on is your problem.

ISAAC: It’s your fault.

ME: Still your problem.

ME: Also, this is venturing dangerously close to sexting. Go away.

ISAAC: You’re a hard woman to please. Do you know that?

ME: I’m actually quite easily to please as long as you know what spot to hit.

ISAAC: Now who’s getting dangerously close to sexting?

ME: Get your mind out of the gutter. I was talking about pizza.

ISAAC: How does what you said even remotely relate to pizza?

ME: It’s all in the interpretation.

ISAAC: And you think I’m difficult to talk to. Bloody hell.

ME: You are difficult to talk to.

ISAAC: You’ve had one conversation with me, and for half of it, you weren’t even talking to me.

ME: It’s a skill of mine.

ME: What do you want me to do? Crawl out of bed and come and have a conversation over the backyard fence?

ISAAC: Don’t be daft.

ME: Don’t be daft? What does that mean?

ISAAC: Fuck me. We’re going to need a translator.

I responded with a string of middle finger emojis.

ISAAC: It means don’t be stupid. Besides, I have a boner. I don’t think seeing you in person is a good idea right now.

ME: I think I’ll take that as a compliment.

ISAAC: You can take it however you want. I don’t mind giving it to you.

ME: Isaac.

ISAAC: I’m talking about compliments. And you think MY mind is in the gutter. Jesus.

ME: I’m going to need to move house.

ISAAC: You won’t move.

ME: How do you know?

ISAAC: Because nobody else in this town will rescue you when you have a vet emergency late at night or give you free meds for the kitten that isn’t your kitten.

ME: …That is a very valid point.

ISAAC: If I knew bribing women with free meds for their animals would endear them to me, I would have done that a long time ago.

ME: Please. All you have to do is walk in and you endear them to you.

ISAAC: Look at that. A compliment. I feel very privileged.

ME: You’re insane.

ISAAC: I am. Now stop