Page 56 of You Had Me At Pumpkin Patch
It all seemed more complicated, with them having to work together and live across the lake from each other. And the fact that their last physical encounter had ended with Zain fleeing and Rosie feeling rubbish, even if he’d apologised and had sworn it wasn’t about her. If she was going to let things go further, she wanted to know she could trust him. That he was all in, if he wanted more too. And they would only find that out by talking, so she resolved to disturb his peace.
He didn’t seem surprised when she crouched near him on the hard mud, and he pulled off a few large leaves and made ground cover for her to sit. He was wearing dark jeans that pulled tight around his firm thighs, as if they wanted to burst free.
She resisted the urge to touch him.
‘I’ve been waiting for you.’ He signalled to an open beer bottle next to him. ‘I know you often walk this way.’
‘Confident,’ she said, taking it and sipping. ‘What else have you already prepared for?’
‘Nothing.’ He shrugged. ‘But after earlier...’
‘You guessed I’d be back for more?’
‘I’m not that self-assured.’
For a man who was so virile and hotly mysterious, he probably should have been.
‘I guessed you’d want to talk,’ he said.
She did. Andsomuch more.
An owl hooted in the distance, taking her right back to their night in the treetops, when they’d trembled under each other’s touch. If she was ever going to feel that way again with him, he was right about the talking.
‘I’m falling for you,’ she blurted out, before taking another swig of her beer. ‘And I can’t make it stop.’ She hadn’t meant to lay her cards on the table so easily, but she was bored of this metaphorical poker. Life was precious and they’d been wasting too much of it.
For the first time since she’d sat down, he turned to look at her. His deep brown eyes seemed to weigh her up.
‘So don’t stop,’ he said quietly.
‘And risk getting hurt again?’
His beautiful, usually strong face crumpled. ‘I’m sorry I backed off like that, after that night. It meant something to me too. I was cowardly. Stupid. I was scared of so many things, and...’ He put down his beer and ran a hand through his hair, his black band pulling free. His hair fell in dark waves. Even though Rosie had never usually been into the untamed mane look, its mirror-like shine was mesmerising in the moonlight.Hewas mesmerising. It was getting harder not to touch him.
‘What’s changed?’ she asked. ‘Aren’t you frightened anymore?’
He studied her face for a long moment. ‘I’m terrified. I’ve made mistakes and I’ve not always been myself, and some days I wonder who I am at all. I’m sorry for that.’
‘You have nothing to be sorry for.’ She put down her own bottle and grabbed his hand. ‘Well, a few things.’ She gave a small grin. ‘But you don’t have to apologise for being human. We all mess things up once in a while.’ She thought back to earlier in Agnes’s back kitchen, when he’d seemed as though he wanted to say something, then didn’t. ‘Whatever you want to share, I’m listening.’
His sigh left warm breath on her cheeks. ‘In answer to your question, nothing’s changed. I’m pretty sure I’m still the same person who’s made the same messy mistakes. As much as I’ve grappled with the guilt of things, I can’t go back and change them. So maybe we could... start again? From right now, in this moment. Because I’m falling for you too. And I don’t want to make it stop.’
She smiled at him softly and he took it as a cue to continue.
‘God, Rosie, I love everything about you. It makes no sense.’
‘Why, thank you,’ she joked.
‘No, I don’t mean that. You see how bad I am at this? I mean, I love being with you, even when we’re just dragging logs around, or making lists about toilet roll, or grating sodding cinnamon sticks.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘And I love yourfunny dungarees, and the way you encourage me, and support my extremely weird pumpkin obsession.’
‘I love your pumpkins.’ She treated him to a wry smile. ‘I can’t get enough of being with you either, and understanding how you see the world, and even catching scary spiders so that you don’t have to. And I love how you make me feel safe to just beme.’
He nodded slowly. ‘Me too.’
She squeezed his hand, brought it gently to her lips for a kiss and then let it go.
‘Do you know what I also love?’ she asked quietly. ‘When we stop talking and let our bodies speak.’
‘Mmm hmm,’ he agreed, as if words had once again escaped him.
