As if on cue, Lina came out from the kitchen, throwing a towel over her shoulder. She waved at Dexter, but when she noticed me, her hand faltered in the air, and her eyes darted quickly back and forth between the two of us.

“Oh, great.” Dexter leaned close to whisper in my ear, the way he had on my first visit to the coffeehouse, and I felt the same delicious tingle I’d felt that day—incomparable to anything in the immortal world. “She’s going to tease us. Brace yourself.”

But the laser focus of Lina’s gaze betrayed more than a passing interest in the mating habits of teenagers. She was looking at me in that curious way she had the first day we met, like she was trying to figure out what I was doing here.

You and me, both, lady.

“Well, don’t just stand there lurking in the doorway,” she scolded. “You’re blocking all the other customers.”

Lina burst out laughing at her own joke, the sound echoing through the empty coffee shop. She was an oddball, but that laugh was pretty contagious, and even I had to crack a smile.

Lina turned up the music on the coffee shop’s speakers, to give us a little ambiance. Then she wiped down our usual table, but Dexter led me instead to a smaller table for two, positioned in front of a large window, framed in white lights. The setup was so small that our knees touched under the table, but neither of us turned to the side to make room for the other.

I studied Dexter’s face as he ordered us drinks. He had a few blemishes in his golden skin, and his hair was a little too long to be trendy, but damn, the boy had a jawline like a Hollywood movie star and an air of confidence that was just short of cocky.

I didn’t drop my eyes when he caught me staring. I was confident too, and I was done playing games.

If my gaze made him uncomfortable, he didn’t show it. He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and asked, “Do you really have a date for Halloween?”

“Do you?”

“I asked you first.”

“No.”

He grinned. “I guess we’re both liars, then.”

It seemed like Dex was done playing games too.

“So, the fight with Reg,” he said. “Everything okay?”

“It will be,” I said. “Do you have siblings?”

“Nope. Only child.”

“Lucky.”

“Lonely.”

“I guess I wouldn’t know. I’ve always had a brother.”

Well, maybe not always, but for as long as I can remember.

“I don’t want to get in your business,” Dexter said, “but you and Reg seem really tight, so I hope you work it out.”