I grin as I climb out of my car. “Morning. Need a ride?”
“Jesus!” she shrieks, whipping around to face me. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly as I walk around to the passenger side and open the door for her. “Need a ride?” I ask again.
She steps closer. “Why are you here?”
“To see you,” I say simply. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride.”
She chews on her bottom lip as she climbs into my car. I smile as I close her door and climb behind the wheel, pulling away from the curb. There’s no traffic at this time of day as I drive toward the college.
I pass her the cooler I packed this morning with her breakfast. “Do you always wake up this early?”
“Yeah, I have to catch the early bus to get to school on time,” she explains, frowning as she opens the cooler. “What’s this?”
“Breakfast. You have to eat.”
“Oh… thanks,” she says softly, pulling out the yogurt parfait and a muffin.
I make a mental note of what Rowan reaches for, filing away all the information I can about her.
We pull out onto Main Street, and I smile as she finishes her muffin. I like taking care of her. I love seeing her happy and knowing she’s all right. That she has what she needs.
“So, have you given any thought to my offer?” I intend to get her rejection out of the way early so I can spend the rest of the drive convincing her to have dinner with me tonight. Our first date.
“Yeah,” she admits.
“But?”
“But I guess I thought you would have found someone better by now.”
“There is no one better than you, Rowan. No one.”
“Why exactly do you need a wife? And a chubby, broke wife at that.”
I glare at her, hating that she thinks that way about herself. “Not chubby,” I growl. “Perfect.”
“Don’t lie to me, Grant,” she snaps.
I pull onto the shoulder and turn to face her. “I’ll never lie to you, Rowan. You’re not chubby. You’ve got curves, sure, but you’re meant to. You’re beautiful. All of you is beautiful.”
She holds my gaze for a moment before looking away, blushing slightly.
I reach out, stroking my fingers across her soft cheek. “If you could read my mind, you would never doubt my attraction to you. You’re all I can think about. I dreamed about you last night.”
She looks at me, eyes wide. “Really?”
“I’ll never lie to you,” I repeat.
I shift back into drive, and we finish the drive to college.
“Which building?” I ask.
“You can park in front of that one. My class is just over there, but the parking lot is always full by that building.”
Rowan gathers her backpack and stuffs her breakfast wrappers into the cooler. I park and turn to face her, watching as she glances around, looking everywhere but at me.
“I have class soon,” she says.
