The pull toward her is undeniable. I feel my feet moving before my head catches up to what I’m doing. My stride is purposeful as I cross the room, but my steps falter as I hear a feminine voice call out. “Rowan!”
I turn around and get forced back a step as my high school girlfriend, Jennifer, throws herself at me. I barely have a chance to react before she crushes her mouth against mine.
17
EVERLY
You know those moments in books and movies where the love interests see each other across the room and everything around them falls away? Where everything quiets down and people blur in their vision. That’s what happens the second I lock eyes with Rowan.
He’s wearing a huge smile, his straight white teeth on display, as he moves toward me. I hold my breath in anticipation until a woman calls his name. The air rushes from my lungs as he turns toward the sound of her voice and she throws herself into his arms, kissing him.
My jaw goes slack as the beautiful woman kisses him with everything she’s got. His arms hang limp at his sides as she clings to him. My heart clenches at the sight of them.Rowan isn’t mine, so why is this upsetting me.
I rip my eyes away from them and find Sophie watching the pair with a disgusted look on her face. “Can you watch Hazel for a few minutes?” I ask softly.
Her eyes whip to mine and I can see the empathy there. “Of course.”
I cast one last look at Hazel to make sure she’s safe and then rush out of the room and through the clubhouse. I climb the stairs and walk down the hallway to Rowan’s suite. I don’t even remember punching in the code to his door, but I walk inside and immediately go to my room. I don’t even bother closing my door, I just sink to my bed and pull my knees to my chest.
At this point, my vision is blurred from the tears that are threatening to fall. I shouldn’t be like this. Rowan doesn’t owe me anything. We’re not together. I just had my dead fiancés baby. I’m still torn up from what I found out about him and now I’m freaking out about a man who owes me nothing.
Is it really nothing, though? Have I imagined everything I thought was happening with Rowan? Maybe he was just doing what any good man would do and helping me out in my time of need. Maybe he didn’t cast the glances at me that I thought he did. Maybe he didn’t feel a single thing in the moments that I did.
My breathing quickens as my tears continue to fall. I hear the door to the suite open, but I can’t bring myself to move from my position on the bed. Rowan rushes into my room a moment later. His hazel eyes are wide in panic before they land on me. His short dark hair looks disheveled.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He asks as he comes to the side of the bed and sinks to his knees.
“I’m fine,” I sniff out between sobs.
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Everly,” he mutters as he reaches out and brushes my hair out of my face.
“Who is she?” I whisper.
“She’s a psychopath that I used to date. I haven’t seen her in years, and I had no desire to see her today,” he says as hegrabs my chin and forces my gaze to his. “You have nothing to be jealous of.”
That makes me jolt from the bed, moving to stand in front of him. “Jealous?” I laugh as I wipe the tears from my face. “You think I’m jealous of her?”
I totally am jealous of her, but I don’t want him to know that. I don’t even know what’s going on with me and Rowan. He doesn’t need to know about my unrequited feelings.
He smirks at me, fucking smirks. He moves closer to me, towering over me. “Yes, jealous. I can see it in your eyes, and your tears don’t lie, darlin’. You’re pissed off that she kissed me. You’re jealous that her lips were on mine and that she was in my arms, but you don’t need to be. You don’t need to be jealous of another woman again because you’re the only woman that I want,” he says as his large hand slides around my hip, pulling me closer to him. “I’ve been fighting this thing between us since the moment you came to stay here, maybe even before then. I’m tired of fighting it, though. So. Fucking. Tired.”
“You are?” I rasp, my head tilted up to maintain eye contact.
“I am,” he admits, his warm breath coasting over my skin, making me shiver. My eyes lock on his lips and he groans, “Fuck it.”
The next second, his lips are on mine. I gasp as his full lips move against mine, his hand slipping to my ass and pulling me against his hard cock. He takes full advantage of my shock and thrusts his tongue into my mouth. I moan as my tongue thrusts out to meet his and reach out, fisting his leather cut and tugging his mouth closer to mine.
18
ROWAN
I didn’t plan on kissing her.
I had every intention of coming up here and just making sure that she was okay. But I couldn’t let her think that I wanted Jennifer. That I didn’t wanther.
The kiss just kind of happened and now it’s all that I want. Her soft, plush lips are like velvet against mine. Her tongue meets mine thrust for thrust, eagerly kissing me back.
Until she pulls away.
