“Nine?”
“It’s possible, Isa,” Lana says. “Verypossible. Just the right amount of?—”
“Anyway,” Isabelle squeaks, red as a cherry. “If it’s good and you’re happy…what’s going on then? What’s in your head?”
I shrug wearily, frowning into my glass of chardonnay. “I just think he likes me…”
“Obviously,” Lana mumbles over the rim of her glass. “He’s been in love with you since…forever.”
“He’d die for you,” Isabelle says. “Pretty sure.”
I shake my head when the front door opens again. This time, it’s Nico, with a jacket thrown over a gray Willow Springs Elementary Field Day hoodie, a baseball cap with light brown curls sticking out from underneath, and growing stubble.
Both Lana and I glance immediately at Isabelle who is turning tomato red.
“Hey, guys,” Nicolas says with a bright smile that is just for Isabelle. “Isa.”
“Hey,” she squeaks.
They share a quiet moment while Lana and I share wide-eyed, knowing expressions. Lana clears her throat first. “They’re in the kitchen, Nico.”
“Thanks, Lana.” He finally strides away toward the kitchen and Isabelle buries herself in the cushions.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” she groans.
“What’s the matter, Isa?” I tease. “You have acrush?”
“Oh shut up,” Isa snaps, pouting. “You won’t even admityouhave a crush.”
I gasp. “Too far.”
“I’m starving,” Lana mumbles, emptying the deep, round glass of wine. “There. The evidence is gone.”
Isabelle and I giggle. “So, are neither one of you going to help me with my Rowan problem?”
“I love you,” Isa says, “but him being a sex machine isn’t a problem until a condom breaks, your cervix bruises, or until you physically can’t ever have another orgasm.”
“Andthatis a tragedy.” Lana sighs.
“That can’t happen,” I grumble and empty my glass before pouring out some more. “Lana,help.”
She shrugs. “I’d love to, but I don’t think I’d be very helpful. When Christian came back I swear it was a sex marathon—I couldn’t get enough. Maybe…that’s how it’s supposed to be for you right now. I mean, you spent so much time pretending to hate him or whatever?—”
I sigh, a deep rumble of frustration. “Just getting it out of my system.”
“At least you can admit that there was somethinginyour system for him,” Isabelle says like a smart-ass, and I snarl in her direction.
Isabelle sticks her tongue out at me. “Zoom out, Nat. You have a tendency to get overwhelmed easily when you see too many things close up.”
“Yeah,” I mutter under my breath.
Rowan likes me, sure, but a crush is all I’ll allow myself to have at this point. However, a part of me wants to reconsider when the door opens again and it’s the blond man. The excitement in my belly flips when I see his face and the gold of his hair. Looking at him triggers a zoo of butterflies
Those are things I shouldn’t be feeling.
My problem is my head.
My problem is that I know I can’t be who he needsbecauseof my head. My bad days are…bad.And Rowan, the golden retriever of a man, deserves someone who can love him—likehim when he needs to be liked the most. He needssomeone who can provide the affection he craves as a human because Rowan Asher is an affectionate human. He hands out his hugs to me like gifts—left and right, all the time.
