Wings of the Wicked - By Courtney Allison Moulton Page 0,11
be included. Your call. Good luck getting them to answer you, though.”
“Let’s stick to living humans.”
“Fine,” I said, staring him down. “It’s a bet.”
His smile grew wide and gorgeous. To say the very least, Will was beautiful. Handsome was too mortal a word. And he was completely unaware of it. And I really wanted him to kiss me right now.
But he wouldn’t. I took a breath and tossed out the thought. I didn’t want to be sad right now. Instead I decided to flirt with him and make his self-imposed distance from me even harder for him to stand. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t human. He was still a guy.
I took another bite, very careful of the way my lips moved around the spoon.
“Want a taste?” I said, arching my mouth into a suggestive smile. I tried hard not to think about how much I sucked at flirting and being sexy. He probably saw right through me.
But as he watched me with a careful gaze, I wondered if I’d succeeded. My nerves lit on fire. He studied every inch of my face, his eyes flickering all over, and my smile faded. “Yeah,” he said at last. “I do.”
My stomach tied in knots and did a series of backflips. My hand turned to jelly as I scooped a spoonful for him and gave him the bite.
He seemed to contemplate the taste for a moment. “Well, I like cookie dough, but it’s still not as good as a melted root beer float.”
I laughed a little louder than I should have. My next spoonful wasn’t as smooth as I watched his eyes flash brightly, but the distraction didn’t totally mess me up. That was, until he laughed and I knew the jig was up.
“What?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Something was apparently hilarious.
He reached for my face and I froze solid, unsure of what he was going to do. He thumbed the tip of my nose and said, “You got ice cream on your face.”
My cheeks flushed with heat, and I felt like a five-year-old who needed a sippy cup.
“You eat like a reaper,” he said with a grin.
I narrowed my eyes. “Thanks, jerk.”
His smile softened, and he brought his thumb to his mouth and licked up what he’d cleaned off my nose. He watched me, and my heart revved like an engine as he reached across the counter again. He tucked my hair behind my ear and drew his fingers around the edge of the ear and traced the line of my jaw.
He started to say something, but then the door to the garage opened and he jerked his hand back. Nathaniel and Lauren appeared, and she was laughing at something he’d just said. I was surprised to see that Nathaniel had attempted to tame his usually untidy, curly copper-brown hair. They looked so happy together, so obviously not just friends, and for a moment I was very jealous of them. I’d never seen them kiss, but I’d bet they did when no one was looking.
“Hey, Lauren,” Will called, slipping away from the counter to stand up straight. “Do you like cookie dough?”
I laughed out loud, and both Nathaniel and Lauren stared at me like I was the village idiot.
“Not really,” Lauren said, hanging her coat and purse on the coat rack by the door. “Gives me a stomachache.”
Will smirked at me with a flick of his brow and a teasing curve on his lips.
I decided right then that the next time I caught him sleeping, I’d shave his eyebrows off.
“So what?” I grumbled. “We didn’t wager anything.”
“The satisfaction of proving you wrong is reward enough for me.”
“You cheated. You knew that she didn’t like cookie dough.”
“Maybe I did.”
“What are you talking about?” Nathaniel asked, staring at us both.
“Nothing,” Will and I said in unison, and I broke off a piece of chocolaty waffle cone and dipped it into my ice cream before I gave anything away.
5
REAPERS GAVE ME A NEW REASON TO HATE THE dead of winter. The sun had completely set by six, so the scary things had longer to play outside. Will and I suited up for the hunt, though not exactly in Matrix style, since I wore jeans, sneakers, and a tweed peacoat over my hoodie.
“There’s been a change of plans,” Will told me as I pulled a white wool beanie over my hair. “We’re not patrolling tonight with Marcus and Ava.”
“We’re not?” I asked as we climbed into my car. That didn’t disappoint me; in fact,