Page 51 of Late Nights & Love Lines
I pat her back uncomfortably, but my blood pressure settles and my mind clears in a way that feels suspiciously similar to peace. “You got it. Let’s get you ready.”
For the next thirty minutes, I help Seren with her hair, and we role-play introductions and ways to approach the topic of her family without oversharing. I explain them as tools she can use to meet whatever kids may be in attendance, and her confidence grows with each passing minute.
And then there’s a knock at my door that has my blood pressure spiking again.
“Are you okay, Rowan?” Seren asks.
I nod quickly.
“You’re turning a little pasty. Are you sure?”
“Yup. I’m good. Why don’t you get the door while I grab a sweater.” There, easy. Let her open it for her dad.
I hear the door swing open, and his voice covers the room with warmth.
“Look at you, sweetheart. You’re beautiful,” Sebastian coos.
“Rowan did it. She looks beautiful too, doesn’t she, Daddy?”
He lifts his head at the exact moment I spin around, and our gazes collide like a meteor shower. I’ve never felt chemistry so forcefully before. Whenever he’s near, it’s as though he’s thrown a lasso around my body, and no matter how hard I run, he just keeps reeling me in one inch at a time.
“She sure does, Seren,” he says, staring straight at me. “You’re both absolutely stunning.”
“Looking good, Row,” Pappy says from the doorway. Crap, I hadn’t even noticed him there.
Miles pushes through the doorway to hand his sister a small bouquet of flowers, then runs to me and hands me the other. They’re wildflowers, and they’re my favorite.
“Those are from me and Kade, but Kade kept shaking them and they’d lose all their petals, so I had to give them to you alone.”
Lowering myself to one knee, I give him a high-five. “How did you know wildflowers were my favorite?”
His smile eats up his entire face as he looks over his shoulder at his dad. “Daddy said he had a hunch.”
“A hunch, huh?” Why can’t I stop staring at this man? The right side of Sebastian’s mouth tips up into a devastating smile as I stand.
“Yup,” Miles says, walking back to his dad. “Didn’t know what a hunch was, but now I have a new word.”
“New words are good,” I say absentmindedly. Vaguely, I hear Kade skipping back and forth in the hallway.
Sebastian takes a step forward. “Wildflowers seemed…fitting.”
“Because I’m so wild?” I ask.
His eyes twinkle at my sarcasm. Sebastian slowly shakes his head. “No one is trying to tame them or make them something they’re not, but they do add beauty to the world around them when they’re allowed to thrive.”
The moment is too intense. We’re not talking about wildflowers anymore, and if he’s talking about me, I’m too flustered to process what that means. Is he saying he isn’t trying to tame me?
The butterflies in my belly morph into a pissed-off hornet’s nest.
“Come on, Seren. Help me get the boys down to the sand dance. Dad and Rowan are goin’ to meet us there,” Pappy drawls with a pleased expression on his face.
Oh, Pappy. Please don’t read too much into this. I’m temporary. The thought has always grounded me. Knowing that I’m not locked into anything, that my situation will change again soon, has always brought me peace. But right now, peace is the last thing I’m feeling. No, right now, I’m terrified that the thought of leaving is causing an emotion I haven’t allowed myself to experience in a very long time.
Regret.
“We—we’ll come with you,” I say too loudly for the enclosed space, but Pappy shoos me away and Sebastian stops my forward motion with his fingertips splayed across my chest and collarbone.
A full-body shiver courses through me from the point of contact. It’s a claiming, a branding that keeps me stock-still.
