Page 55 of Late Nights & Love Lines
She stops struggling to get free. Her gaze is locked on my lips kissing one finger and then the next. I nearly groan when her breaths turn shallow, and her chest rises and falls in short pants.She’s as affected by me as I am her. The difference is, I can admit it—Rowan isn’t there yet.
“I don’t believe in signs,” she huffs. “There’s good luck and there’s bad luck. That’s it.”
“I didn’t believe in signs either, but then you came along.”
“I’m not your sign.”
“That’s not how it works, Peach. You don’t get a say in what my signs are.”
“You’re impossible.”
“And you’re gorgeous. It’s a good thing we’re about to be surrounded by people because my thoughts about you are not rated PG right now.”
Her blush deepens, and she drops her gaze away from mine. “You can’t say that stuff.”
“Sure I can.”
Rowan digs her heels in, and I wait expectantly for her fire to burst free in the dark night.
“You can’t, Sebastian. You know this is temporary.” She twists those black and pink bracelets around her wrist, pausing with every circle to tap her thumb to her tattoo. She doesn’t even appear to notice that it’s become her touchstone—but now it’s clear. She’s always been mine.
“What makes something temporary to you?” I ask, feigning a careless shrug. The merry fucking meddlers’ plan is sounding more and more like a reality.
“Ah, an end date?” Her sarcasm is biting as it passes her lips. “There’s always an end date.”
“Okay. And we have one, so what’s your problem?”
Her gaze shifts to anywhere that’s not me. I’m not sure if she’s searching for an escape or a comeback.
“My problem? It’s not my problem. We set my end date. We put it in writing, and I can’t stay after that.”
I make a tsking sound with my tongue. “Again with the can’t. It’s not that you can’t, Peach. It’s that you won’t.” My brow lifts, daring her to contradict me. “And I’m aware that you have an end date. What I’m asking you to do is give me your now.”
“My now? What the hell does that even mean?”
“It means you give me your todays and your tomorrows. We’ll worry about the rest when we get there.”
“This sounds like a trick.”
That’s because it is, my beautiful Rowan.I smile so sweetly that I know I’ve just invited a handful of cavities into my life, but her frown makes it all worth it. I’d love nothing more than to kiss away the worry line between her brows.
“Today and tomorrow, Peach. And your now starts with a dance. Our first dance.”
“Seb.” She sighs, and I love what that sound does to my battered heart. “We can’t. There are people around, and more importantly, your kids. They’ve been through a traumatic event—you don’t want to confuse them any more than they already are.”
With a sharp tug on her hand, she falls into me. Her body was meant to fit against mine.
“I love that you’re so considerate of my children. They will always be my priority, which is why I’ve already spoken to them.”
“You did what?” she whisper-hisses, and it’s kind of adorable.
“I told them that you’re my friend. And that sometimes friends hug and dance.”
She aggressively pulls away from me to yank her hair into a ponytail and fastens it with a hair thingy she always has around her right wrist. Then she faces me with her hands on her hips, and I can so easily envision her charging me like an angry bull.
“Seren is struggling, you jackass.” The fire that makes her Rowan blazes to life behind shuttered eyes. “She’s hurt that her mother ruined things for her and that she so easily abandoned her. You can’t just fill that space with the next asshole that walks by.”
Irritation prickles my neck, and I stare up at the stars to rein in my wild thoughts before I say something I’ll regret. When I’m sure I can control my tone, I lower my chin to my chest and wait until she meets my eyes.
