Page 121 of Maneater
JOSIE
I knock on Rowan’s door after Rory and I finish setting up last-minute details for tomorrow. Rowan came up and spent most of the day helping us, contacting different people to try to get our idea rolling. Before he had to leave for a meeting, he told me to meet him in his room when I was done. There’s a good chance this is our last night in paradise—or at least, the last one where we won’t be celebrating a closed case and Rowan won’t inevitably be doing major damage control to decide how to deal with the employees who had a hand in all of this, and I desperately want to spend it with Rowan.
It’s our last night in this bubble before life goes back to normal, or whatever the new normal is, and despite Rowan’s reassurance that we’ll make things work, I can’t help but feel a twinge of nervousness.
“Coming,” the voice behind the door says, and I smile, looking down the hall once more to ensure no one is around. Rowan’s suite is down an empty hall, though, so I don’t have to really worry about anything. When the door opens, Rowan is standing there in a casual pair of shorts and a Daydream T-shirt. I smile, but then my browfurrows in confusion. The lights are off, though there seems to be some flickering behind him and maybe…fairy lights?
“Wha—” I start, but his hand moves out, wrapping my wrist and tugging me into his dark hotel room. “What is going on?” I ask as I take in the living room of his suite, which has four tables scattered about, each filled with food and drink, though each area has a clearly distinct vibe. One has white linens, tapered candles, and champagne flutes, with a salmon dinner on each plate. On another low table, there’s some kind of fried noodle dish and a bottle of sake. A third table features what I think must be mozzarella sticks, pizza, and beer, while the final table includes steak and what appear to be truffle fries, a bottle of wine, and large, crystal goblets.
“What is this?” I ask with a laugh. Somehow, he’s put together this big…feast, yet I can’t rack my brain through all of the conversations we’ve had to figure out what he’s doing or why. He moves closer to me, putting a hand to my lower back, and I look at him and see there’s…nerves on his face. My unflappable man isnervous. His hand lifts, and he tucks a piece of my hair back before resting his hand on the back of my neck.
“This is four of the twenty-one dates I should have taken you on.”
My body stills, and I continue to stare at him, confusion mixing with eager anticipation in my veins. Whatever is happening right now, I know to my bones I’ll remember it until the day I die. Cherish it, even.
“What?”
“I bumped into you twenty-one times before I had a drink with you in the bar.” Goose bumps erupt over my arms, and his hand moves down, rubbing them away absentmindedly before continuing to explain. “Twenty-one opportunities I could have tried to take you out, to win you over.” My stomach flutters as I start to understand, start to put the pieces together. “If I hadn’t been such an idiot who let his bruised ego get in the way, I probably would have been more persistent.” The hand on my back presses, tugging me into his chest, and my hand moves around his neck instinctively. He looksdown at me with warm, open eyes, and I see the truth in every single word he’s saying.
“I’ll still owe you at least seventeen more after this, not including all of the other dates I plan to take you on.” My breathing hitches with his words. “This is just my way of saying I know we should have been this…me and you…a lot longer, but I was too stubborn to take a step. It’s on me, and I’m going to make every effort to make it up to you.”
I shake my head then. “You don’t have to do this, Rowan,” I say with a soft laugh. “I also am to blame.”
Now it’s his turn to shake his head, but with less humor and more fierceness. “As far as you knew, I was an asshole for no reason.”
My hand moves, cupping his cheek. “And as far as you knew, I wasn’t into you and lied about not dating people.”
He shrugs. “The difference is, if you told me that right now, if you said you didn’t date, it wouldn’t stop me. I’d keep asking. Five times, ten, twenty-one times until I convinced you to give me the smallest shot, to let me in.”
“That’s kind of obsessive,” I say with a laugh.
“That’s because I’m completely obsessed with you, and even though I couldn’t admit it to even myself until recently, I’ve been obsessed with you for some time. If I had paid attention for just a single moment, I would have realized the world was throwing me a million chances to find my person finally.”
I swallow emotion before giving him a small smile, my thumb grazing over his sharp cheekbone.
“You’re such a romantic,” I whisper in awe.
“No, no. I’m not.”
“Look around, Rowan. This is a romanticgrand gesture at its finest.”
He gives me a soft chuckle and shakes his head. “I’m not a romantic. I’m just wild for you.”
My heart thumps, but I can’t let him think he’s totally won me over, despite us both knowing the truth, so I smile and tip my head.
“You bumped into me twenty-two times, but I only get twenty-one dates?”
He smiles wide. “The twenty-second time I bumped into you was a date. We drank, we talked, I dragged you into an office and made you come. It was ourfirstdate, even.” My jaw drops and my eyes widen. He laughs at the shock on my face before his head dips, pressing a kiss to my neck. “That’s exactly how you would have wanted that date to go, and you know it.”
I roll my eyes, but he doesn’t miss the shiver that rolls through me.
“I would have preferred you fucked me, but—” I start, but he cuts me off.
“Then we’ll recreate it the right way when we get back.”
I let out a loud, free laugh, my heart full and light at the same time, the way I always find myself feeling when I’m around Rowan. Even when I used to see him out and dread how he could blow my cover, I also anticipated it. Wanted it. Craved the back and forth of it. Cravedhim.
God, I am so gone for this man. And I think I always have been.
