Our mouths remained closed but something passed between us—a silent promise to make it right. My hand itched to run the length of her bare arm, and my body longed to pull her over the console and on top of me, but I didn’t do either. I kept my hand on her chin and my lips fused to hers. I’d take the crumbs.
“Michael,” she whispered, the sound like medicine to my soul.
“Lynx, we’re going to fix this, I swear.” My breath caressed her cheek. “One day, not long from now, you’re going to be married to me, my baby in your belly, eating ice cream in bed and laughing like none of this ever happened, your past only a distant memory and a bright future ahead of you. Swear to fucking God, a god I don’t even believe in, babe. It’s going to be so good, our life.”
A tear slipped from her eye, and I kissed it away. “C’mon, let’s go eat. Enough of the sadness.”
I was done being gentle. It was time I took charge and pushed us in the right direction. So what if talk of babies and marriage was too much, or if I was coming on too strong—I was Michael Wind, destined for greatness. Fuck it all to hell.
Seated in a booth at News Café—with blue water to the horizon outside, and tourists and locals rushing in and out—I ordered an unsweetened iced tea, egg whites and spinach, and toast. Lynx opted for coffee, grapefruit, and some kind of fruit-covered oatmeal.
She was quiet while we waited for our food, and I let her have that moment, making small talk and people watching.
“Feel better?” I asked after she’d taken a few bites.
“Yeah, I needed some food in my system.”
“What’s your plan for today? Classwork? Gym?”
“Not much. Probably yoga, hang with Sam, make dinner.”
“We should go see Chantilly. She’s been worried about you.”
“Where is she?”
“At Asher’s house, the one I used to stay at. I set her up there with her daughter when Bruno went fucking crazy.”
Lynx’s brow wrinkled as she muttered, “Bruno.”
“You haven’t heard from him, have you?”
She shook her head. “Pretty sure he’s long gone, or I would have. I wonder what he’s up to, or if he’s worried about me.”
“Good choice for him to be long gone. He wasn’t going to make it here, not with Carson and Landon involved now.”
“He didn’t mean to get me involved.”
“Lynx, I mean it. Leave the past in the rearview. I don’t want to hear you defend Bruno. I can’t. You have to understand what that does to me. He put you in the worst place possible, stole you right out from under me.”
Her eyes stayed fixed on her coffee. “It’s just I needed to find Samara. I don’t know, I was all messed up. She’s my only blood.”
“Maybe so, but now you’re going to live life. Maybe talk to someone?”
She shook her head.
“How’s Nat?” I asked, changing the subject again.
“She’s good. Busy with Quinn, keeping Asher calm. I miss her and Quinn. They were such a big part of my life. I haven’t met the babies, Lillie and Parker, either.”
“We should go see them all. Maybe Lila and Carson could meet us in Vegas for a weekend?”
“Maybe. I can’t think about it now. It’s too much. Jeez, I can’t even.”
“You tell me when. I’m not going anywhere, you hear me? No rush.”
“Yeah.”
“Samara could come too. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
