Page 28 of Fly's Path

“The more you say it isn’t, the more I know it is, so dish.”

Do I tell her? It really wasn’t anything. But it felt like something…I felt way too much. “What was it like the first time you kissed Maverick?”

Dahlia stares at me for a long moment. “It wasn’t the same as what you’re feeling right now. The thing was, I hadn’t been kissed before, and he waited for me to be ready. Our first kiss was more like a promise of forever than an introduction. If we had kissed the first time we met…I don’t know what would have happened. But I don’t think we would have waited so long to get married.”

Waited so long? “You two eloped.”

“Yeah, but look at Dylan. She barely waited a few weeks. All that lost time with the man of my dreams.”

Um…are we talking about a different person, because Dahlia’s man scares the life out of me? He always looks like he’s planning the different ways he can kill you without moving. And I bet he was creative and found at least ten different ones each time.

That hardly sounds like a dream guy. Fly, the flirty biker, definitely wouldn’t count as the man of anyone’s dreams, unless they were naughty dreams of bad boys and tattoos.

Does he have tattoos? The scruff on his face definitely added to the bad-boy vibes, as did the little scar on his eyebrow. He’s still too young, but you can just tell that when he gets older, the salt and pepper at his temples is just going to add to those sexy but scary vibes.

“Earth to Sheridan.” Dahlia waves a hand at me. “Where did you go?”

“I thought about dream men. It’s odd, but I don’t have one of those. There hasn’t been a time in my life when I thought, hey, I’d like a man like this. Mostly I picture myself alone for the rest of my life.” Why in the world did I say that? I sound sad and pathetic.

“Same. I write all these men in my books, but none of them were even close to being a man I would fall for.”

“Does a lion man count? Because I’m adding a few of those into my books.”

“So what you’re saying is, you like hairy men.”

We both giggle at the thought.

“Could you imagine all the razors you’d need?”

The alien would probably say something funny like, Excuse me, beautiful, I just need to go shave my mane. And could you do my back when I’m done?

Nope, that’s too contemporary. Would he be more formal—

“You’re planning a book, aren’t you?” Dahlia walks over to a drawer and pulls out three bowls.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Maverick tells me I get a far-off look when I’m in the zone, but I’ve never seen it in the wild before. During our sprints, everyone seems so focused.”

It’s time for the dumplings to go in. I drop them one by one.

“So if you don’t have a dream man, how did the biker you kissed rate?”

The dumpling slips out of my fingers and onto the stovetop.

“That good?”

How do you rate your first kiss when you expected it to be nothing? Less than nothing? A friendly kiss you might give a family member on the cheek turned into life-changing and…“Terrifying.”

“What?” Dahlia squeaks. “Did he do something inappropriate?”

“Who did something inappropriate?” Maverick booms as he walks into the room. His gaze is hard, and the formerly random murder plans seem imminent.

Hopefully, it’s not me who he wants to unalive violently.

“Did someone touch you?” Maverick walks over, picks up Dahlia like she’s a small child and not a fully grown woman, and then sets her down on the counter in front of him.

That move was smooth. It would have been sexy too if he didn’t look positively homicidal. He scans her face and arms, probably looking for bruising.