Free A Darker Past (Entangled Teen) (The Darker Agency) by Jus Accardo Page A

chewing. I stuffed the empty bottle into my bag and zipped it closed. “If you’re gonna try to sell me a magazine subscription, save your breath.”
    “Huh?”
    I shook my head. “Nothing. What’s on your mind?”
    “Elaine,” he said without hesitation.
    Wow. My pulse spiked, and I wasn’t sure if it was relief or worry. Elaine/Lucy/pain-in-my-ass was really not a topic that needed discussion in my eyes. “Um, okay. Something you need to get off your chest?”
    “Back in Town Hall, with Elaine, you seemed upset.”
    “Having things thrown at me by a dead girl will do that,” I said wryly. I didn’t know what he was getting at, but my heart was thundering anyway.
    “I just wanted to make sure you understood. About Elaine and me.”
    “What’s there to understand?” Avoiding his gaze, I swung the bag over my shoulder and started toward the entrance of the park. “You guys used to be a thing.”
    “Used to.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me backward, spinning me to face him.
    “Well,” I said, shifting from foot to foot. “Obviously. I mean, if you were planning to dump me for her, you guys would have some awkward challenges to work through. I mean, think about how silly you would look kissing her in public. It would look like you were tonguing air.”
    He took my hand and squeezed. “Elaine and I were close as children, and yes, we were courting. She would have made a fine wife.”
    I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “Not loving the direction this conversation is headed. Just so you know—”
    “Let me finish.” He smiled. “She would have made a fine wife, but that’s not what I ever wanted. Not really.”
    “So, you wanted a crappy wife?”
    His grin widened and my pulse spiked. How could he do that with just a simple smile? Take me from the edge of despair to the threshold of giddy with a simple twist of his lips? “I wanted someone who would challenge me.”
    I couldn’t stop my own grin. “What are you saying, Mr. Scott? That I’m difficult?”
    “I’m saying that I was never interested in easy. You, Jessie Darker, are truly unique. You are stubborn, and strange, and brilliant. And yes, you are difficult, and I love that about you. You don’t accept things at face value. You question and learn and rebel.”
    Warmth rippled through me, and my heart swelled. “Aww, you know just what a girl likes to hear,” I said, punching him lightly on the arm.
    He caught my wrist and held tight. “My overall point is, you have nothing to worry about.”
    “I kinda figured since, yanno, Elaine is dead and all.” Unless of course he had another hundred-year-old ex waiting in the wings.
    His voice softened. “From anyone, Jessie. Do you really think I waited all this time to find you only to have my head turned by someone else?”
    I sucked in a breath. Confession time. I fished into my pocket and pulled out a pack of gum, then handed him a piece. “This whole relationship thing,” I said, trying hard not to cringe. I hated slapping a label on what we were. Sure, I’d already told him I loved him, but I was willing to bet my toes he hadn’t heard and that was fine by me. I so wasn’t ready for that. “It’s new for me. All of it. The letting myself fall for someone, the jealousy…”
    “Ahh,” he said, snickering. “So you were jealous.”
    “Of course,” I admitted. “Which was obviously ridiculous because, really, who other than me could possibly put up with you? You’re stuffy and old-fashioned, and—”
    The rest of my sentence was cut off by Lukas’s kiss. He pulled me close, winding his arms around my waist with a ferocity that sent a tingle down my spine and ignited an explosive fire in my stomach.
    I kissed him back, threading my fingers through his hair, the taste of peppermint gum teasing my tongue. This was rare. Lukas was the perfect gentleman. Granted my influence sometimes caused him to cave, but for the most part, I had to be the one to push things. Of