“I’m fine.”
She wants to ask more questions, and I brace myself for what’s coming. But luckily, she gets distracted as we turn onto a bumpy dirt road.
“Where are we?”
“You’ll see.”
Overgrown tree branches hit the sides of the windows, and a flock of birds takes flight in a rush of squawks as we enter a clearing. After I pull up near the small lake, I cut the engine and unbuckle my seatbelt.
I’ve always enjoyed how quiet it is out here… silent and peaceful. Mom used to bring my siblings and me here when we were younger, and we’d spend hours playing by the riverbed while she read a book in the shade. That was before my father’s dark world drained the last spark she had for life.
It’s good to be back here again. Honestly, I have many fond memories of this place, but it’s strange to see the lake now through adult eyes. It seems so small and insignificant, a tucked-away lake that nature forgot. It used to look so big when I was a little boy, like the ocean itself—endless and full of secrets.
Jessica shifts beside me, probably wondering why I haven’t moved yet. For a moment, I question why I brought her here… to a place that means so much to me. Just the thought of taking any of the other women I’ve been with here is out of the question. Idon’t want them anywhere near the only happy memories of my childhood that I still hold. But it’s different with Jessica.
She is different.
I feel off balance, like a reckless kid on a roof raft high above a hay bale in an old barn, my stomach twisting with excitement and fear. I shouldn’t be up here, but the thrill of climbing the rickety old ladder is too tempting. And if Jessica kisses me now, I’ll lose my balance, and I’d better pray that the hay bale is tall enough to catch my fall.
“It’s beautiful here,” Jessica says quietly, looking out through the windshield, her voice filled with wonder.
“Yes,” I reply, looking at her, “it is.”
There’s no way the hay bale is tall enough to catch my fall, not this time... not with her. But it’s already too late.
I’m airborne, caught in that split second before gravity sends me hurtling to the ground.
“How did I not know about this place?” she asks.
“Not many people do.”
Hopefully, it stays that way. I’m not ready to share it with anyone else.
Jessica looks at me with those blue, expressive eyes that hold a thousand questions, and my pulse jumps beneath my skin.
I step out of the car, shut the door behind me, and face the glassy lake, the sun warming my face and shoulders. I just need a moment or two alone to calm my nerves, and then I’ll be okay. It’s not like me to feel this unsettled around women, or anyone else, for that matter. I haven’t cared before.
A door opens and shuts behind me. I glance over my shoulder to find Jessica watching me over the roof of the car. She squints against the sun, one hand raised to shield her eyes as a gentle breeze lifts her unruly hair.
“Why do I feel this way around you?” I ask, my voice threatening to crack.
She tilts her head, curiosity flickering across her face. “Feel what?”
I can’t believe I fucking said that aloud. Who even am I anymore? Cash would never let me live it down.
Turning fully, I rest my arms on top of the roof, studying the freckles on her nose and the small scar near her lip. “Like the world is shifting beneath my feet.”
Her eyes flicker slightly, and I nervously tap my fingers on the roof as I look toward the treeline. “It’s fucking scary, to be honest,” I admit, and when I turn my gaze back to her, she swallows, a stray lock of hair drifting across her lips.
She has no idea of the effect she has on me, and it makes her even more attractive.
“Kane,” she says, drifting off. Her voice is so quiet that it’s almost lost in the gentle breeze, and my throat jumps. Here we go again. She’s fighting her feelings.
I watch her as I drum my fingers on the roof, my chest tightening.
“I don’t know what this is,” I continue, wetting my lips, and she looks at me like she’s scared, but not in the way you’d think. She’s afraid of getting hurt.
“And I know it doesn’t make sense.” I focus on the black paint, tapping my finger in sync with the pulse in my ears. “But when you walked out of that building earlier. Fuck… I couldn’t look away.”
