“I’ll go. Yeah.”
“Like, a date.” I nod, and she nods back.
“Should we go in costumes, or are we choosing the normal people route?”
“Scout, our second date is at an anime convention; I think we’re past normal.”
“Second?” She cocks her head.
“Well, yeah. The first was the pizza place.” Her mouth goes into an ‘O,’ and her brows tighten.
“No.” She chuffs. “Definitely not a date.”
“It was a date.” I grin, and she pokes my chin.
“No.” She bites her lip as she smiles down at me. I’m about to pull her down and kiss her everywhere until she agrees with me. Mostly, so I can hear her laugh and see that world-stopping smile of hers, but I know we don’t have much time. We should use this time to finish everything before the test run on Monday. We won’t have time to work longer today if we want to make it to the convention in time, so this is go-time.
I stand up and run a knuckle over the soft indentation under her cheekbone.
“To be continued.” I raise my brows, and she nods.
“Prepare to lose this fight.” She turns back to the desk, and I really did want to get some work done this morning, but she looks far too smug. I whip back around and pick her up, swinging her over my shoulder as she screams.
“Stop!” She laughs, pounding her fists on my back.
“Your punches feel like pebbles.” I mock in a deeper voice than normal.
“You’re crazy!” She screams as I bring her straight to the testing room.
“What’s that?” I ask as I kick open the door and put her down in the center of the room.
“I said you’re crazy.” She taunts with a smirk. I press a button by the door, and the room goes black for a second. There’s a little screen by the light switch that Vince and I spoke about hypothetically. I’m glad it exists, or else we would just be in a giant concrete box for our make-out session.
“Hello?” She’s still in the center of the room when I choose the space setting, and before I’ve turned around, I see it on the walls. A projection of the cosmos engulfing us on the walls, ceiling, and floors. A thin screen is lining the concrete, allowing for a high-resolution projection of moving space, dancing stars, and cavernous black holes.
“Holy—” is all I hear her whisper under her breath, and I step closer to her, my eyes filled with the colors surrounding us but focused solely on her.
“I take it back.”
“What? The fact that it wasn’t a date?”
“No. I’m right about that. I meant my comment about you being crazy.” I slide my hand across her lower waist and pull her close to my chest. The reflection of the stars glimmer in her amber eyes. I almost think I can see into her soul. I bet she would look like this room, an entire universe of complexities and beauty.
“You’re so… I don’t have words,” I whisper, and her lips turn up slightly as she pulls her attention away from the surrounding space. When her eyes meet mine, I pull her hips closer to mine.
“You’re so I-don’t-have-words, too.” She whispers back, and I laugh into a kiss so magnetic that I feel every cell in my body bending towards hers because I just want her. Need her. Never thought I had time to feel this way for anyone, but she’s here, and I’ve suddenly got all the time in the world.
She slides her hands up my chest and wraps her arms around my neck as I press her small frame closer to me. She feels spectacular. Even just kissing her is an experience I don’t think I’ll get used to. Everything about her is new and exciting, yet familiar and alluring.
“Should we get to work?” She whispers as I break from her to kiss her sweet neck.
“Hm,” I mumble into her skin, and she pulls at my shirt with a soft giggle. I raise my lips to hers again, and she tilts her head back. Slowly, I slide my hand up her thigh to bring her lips back to mine, and she lets out a breath as she closes her eyes.
“Tito,” she whispers and brings my forehead to hers. The heat from our skin combined is enough to start a fire. My heart is pumping faster at the thought of taking her clothes off in the middle of this room, in the middle of space. Her breath grazes my lips, and I brush her soft cheek with my hand. Before I can pull it away, she cups her hand over it.
“We have a problem.” Vince's voice interrupts us, and we both jolt our heads towards him. He looks between us for only a second, but if he was in any other mood besides panic, he would say something about the state in which he found us.
“What’s wrong?” I step away from Scout, and we make our way to him as he turns on the lights.