In the Air (The City Book 1) - By Crystal Serowka Page 0,46

girlfriends had something to buy their boyfriends."

"Well," he said playfully, placing his hand on the edge of my shoulder, "you're wrong."

"Fine. I'm wrong. Let's go get some wrinkle cream for all these laugh lines you're causing."

Samson dropped his arm back to his side and gave me his best brooding look. "You're a feisty one. Has anyone ever told you that, Natalia?"

Every time Samson said my name, the hair on the back of my neck rose. The way he pronounced the last syllable, the way his tongue hit the roof of his mouth so gently, it was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard. I restrained myself from grabbing him around the neck and pulling his lips to mine. I wanted to kiss him so badly.

The wind blew my hair across my face. Samson's finger lightly caressed my cheek, moving traces of hair out of the way. I peeked up at him, a grin now showing on his face. I stared at the sidewalk to keep a straight face.

"You're the first person that's ever called me that. I don't even know what feisty means." I began to laugh and pulled my messy hair into a ponytail.

"You're an awful liar. You can't even look at me while saying that."

"I can." My eyes followed the length of his body until they lingered on his face. His rounded jaw framed his oval face perfectly. His blue eyes stood out against his slightly tanned skin, which made his blonde hair appear lighter. "I don't even know–" I began laughing, unable to finish the rest of my sentence.

We laughed for at least five minutes. We'd stop, wipe our eyes from the tears, then look at each other and begin laughing again. When we finally calmed down, Samson wiped his eyes with both hands, and gazed up at the tall building in front of us. His long, black eyelashes easily touched his eyelids. I never understood why most guys were so lucky to have long eyelashes, while most girls had to curl them, glob on the mascara, and glue on the fake lashes just for them to appear voluptuous. If you ask me, girls really got the short end of the stick.

"What do you say we go into Sephora and then I'll let you buy me a coffee?" Samson asked playfully.

"Yeah, that sounds fair," I retorted, rolling my eyes.

Samson and I spent the next hour in Sephora, spraying each other with awful smelling perfume and colognes. He was convinced that my new scent should be a perfume made by Hello Kitty, saying it would go perfectly with my spirited personality. In reply, I sprayed him with Justin Bieber's perfume, which only ended up bothering my sense of smell more than his. By the time we left the store, Samson had picked up not one, but two bottles of his favorite cologne, Bond No. 9. I was astounded when I saw the cashier ring it up. People really paid hundreds to smell good when a bar of soap cost less than five dollars?

When we walked outside, the sun was low in the sky. As we continued down the street, neither of us said a word. I didn't want the day to end, but I wasn't sure if Samson felt the same way.

"There's this great Italian restaurant nearby called Salumeria Rosi, if you want to stop and grab some food before heading back." Samson stopped walking and reached for my elbow.

I looked at the face I had studied all afternoon. I had memorized each line, the mole that stood out under his right eye, and the way he quickly licked his lips before speaking.

"Like a date?"

"Like a getting-to-know-one-another type thing." This time, he licked his lips after he spoke.

"That's a great idea. It'll give me more material to make fun of you." I reached up to lightly slap his cheek, but Samson grabbed my hand.

"What's with the slapping?" His eyes widened as he dropped my hand, my skin tingling from the contact. "You're so violent."

"Can't take it?" I bit my bottom lip. Samson stared at my mouth with a wild look in his eyes.

"If we hadn't agreed to take things slow, I would kiss you senseless," Samson said earnestly, "right now, in the middle of this sidewalk, hoping everyone would stop and stare."

With that vision in my mind, I would have been okay if we were kissing in front of the whole world.

It was 9 P.M. and I had spent nearly the entire day with Natalia. When I dropped her