Page 46 of Inferno

I haven’t told him that he’s the one and only man I’ve kissed, but from the way he softly shows me what he likes, it feels like he figured it out on his own, and I’m grateful not to have to admit out loud how pathetic I am.

“You start at seven a.m., so we won’t have time to eat at a restaurant, but we can go through a drive-through and grab something.”

“I’m fine, but don’t let that stop you,” I say, knowing that I cannot afford to buy fast food for myself, and definitely not for both of us.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” he scolds, his frown making my heart race.

This strange fear of disappointment hangs heavily in my stomach. How can the opinion of someone I barely know affect me this much?

“Are you okay?” he asks, turning to look at me, before he focuses his attention back on the road.

“Is it normally like this?” I blurt, then wish I could swallow back the words.

“No,” he replies. “No, it’s not. Which is why I know that as crazy as it seems, you truly are mine. I don’t know if it was fate or some insane Barnett family curse that brought you to me, but I’m grateful for whatever it was, and I won’t let you go.”

“Barnett family curse?” I question.

His laugh is low and comforting, the sound curling around me like a caress. “No one told you about the crazy way the Barnetts all met their wives?”

I shake my head.

“I don’t know all the details, but this is the gist. The Barnetts have some kind of family voodoo thing where they see the woman they’re meant to marry and fall instantly in love. Like the moment their eyes meet, they just know that that is their person.”

“That’s—”

“Crazy,” he says.

“I was going to say sweet.”

“I guess you could call it sweet, once you get past the crazy part.” Chuckling, he smiles warmly. “Well, after all seven Barnetts found their women, my boss, Buck, met a woman, and the way he tells the story, the first time he saw her, he just knew.”

“Wow,” I gasp. The idea of falling in love just like that is both scary and amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever been that certain about anything, so the thought that I could stumble across someone one day and just know that they are my soulmate feels like a fantasy to me.

“I don’t know if it’s true or just the power of suggestion, but the moment I saw you sitting opposite Parker, it felt completely real to me. When my eyes landed on you, I just knew that you were everything.”

The casualness with which he drops this bombshell shocks me, and for a long moment I just stare at the side of his head, waiting for him to say “I’m only joking” or “That’d be a cool story, right?” but he doesn’t.

He doesn’t take back his confession or try to lessen the significance of his words.

Turning off the road, he pulls into a fast-food restaurant, then turns to face me. “When I said you were mine, I didn’t meanmine for a night or a moment. I meant you are mine for the rest of forever, Henry. Till death do us part.”

My body goes into autopilot while my mind tries to process his words. He orders breakfast for us, then passes it to me, and I eat while my thoughts spin and jumble and whir.

Do I feel like he’s mine?

Honestly, I don’t know. The few things I own, I hoard, coveting them because having anything that belongs to me is still such a foreign feeling. I’m attracted to him. I like him, but I don’t know how he can be so sure about a feeling that I don’t think I even understand.

“You’re thinking pretty loudly over there,” he says, jolting me from my inner turmoil as we slow to a stop outside the garage.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“You don’t need to apologize. I shouldn’t have just thrown all of that at you. I just need you to know what this is and what it isn’t.”

Inhaling sharply, I turn to look at him, imploring him to help me. “I don’t understand.” The confession feels like it’s been torn from my very soul, but it’s the truth. I’m so inept at this because I’ve never had people, let alone a person.

“After work, I’m going to be here to pick you up. I’m going to take you to my place, and after we eat the dinner that I’m going to cook for us, we’re going to sit down and talk about what this is between us. Okay?”

Biting my lip, I consider saying no and telling him that I need time and space to try to figure out what I want. But even though I might be confused because of my lack of experience, I still know that I don’t want to cut him out of my life. I want to know him. I want to try to understand what he wants and needs from me and, ultimately, how I can be the person he thinks I am to him.