Page 2 of They Are Mine

Oh, Noah. You’re already mine.

“I’m Juliet,” I say.

Forward, maybe. But hesitation is failure.

I was timid once. I let shyness ruin my first love, let it steal what was meant to be mine.

He never even knew I existed. Peter. And I’ll never make that mistake again.

Not with Noah.

He smiles, rubbing the back of his neck. His fingers tug at the strings of his apron, a nervous tic. I adore it. His scent hits me again, soft but unmistakably masculine. Not sharp or dangerous, Noah isn’t like that.

He’s kind. He’s good. He’s mine.

“You work here a lot, huh?” I ask, keeping my voice soft, lilting, like I just happened to notice.

He lets out a breathy laugh. “Uh, yeah. Pretty much live here.”

I smile, and his blush deepens.

This is it.

He’ll ask for my number. He’ll thank fate for making him bump into me. He’ll…

“Oh, uh…” He hesitates.

Something in my chest tightens.

“Um… I should get going,” he says, shifting on his feet. “I gotta close up. It was nice meeting you, Juliet.”

…What.

No.

I blink.

I wait.

Say it, Noah.

Ask.

But he doesn’t.

He just waves.

And then he turns away.

Back to work. Back to his life.

Without me.

Something goes very still inside me.

For a moment, my thoughts are white noise, my pulse too loud in my ears, a strange, empty pressure building in my chest.

I don’t move.

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