Rowan laughed and shook his head. “I often thought the same about you.”
“Crazy, hm?” I smiled and rested my chin on his shoulder. “After such a perfect night, have I fucked it up?”
Rowan turned his head and side-eyed me. “No, you’ve not fucked anything up. I was just taken by surprise that anyone other than us knew anything about all of this.”
I guiltily pressed my lips together. Perhaps now was not the best time to mention that Louise was also in on it, but I felt the secret burning a hole inside me.
“There’s also Louise,” I muttered. “Another friend I completely trust to keep it to herself, by the way.”
“Oh shit, I’d forgotten about her.”
I blinked. “Wait, you knew she knew?”
Rowan shot me a wry smile. “She saw me leaving your room the morning after New Year.”
Memories came flooding back. Of course, Louise had been sleeping on our sofa. She’d mentioned as much to me, but I’d completely forgotten. In a way, I was relieved not to have to admit I’d been wagging my tongue to another of my friends. I was all for honesty, but for now I would keep quiet about Louise already knowing about Rowan and mebeforethat morning.
“I meant what I said. You don’t need to worry about either of them.”
There was a heavy pause as Rowan stared ahead vacantly, trailing his fingers up and down my arm.
“I will tell her. Christina, I mean,” he eventually said. “It’s been a long time coming, but I never had any intentions to get involved with anyone serious until I’d finished things with her first.”
Serious… My heart sped up.
“I know,” I replied quietly. “My fault.”
“Only for being so damn irresistible,” Rowan replied. He wormed his way out from my embrace and twisted to face me. He grasped my face in his hands and kissed me. “I’m sorry I’ve dragged you into this mess.”
I shrugged and grinned. “So far it’s been worth it.”
“So far?” Rowan laughed, feigning a pained wince. “You wound me. You think things are going to take a downturn?”
“Well, you can’t possibly do any better than you did last night,” I teased. “I damn near lost my mind.”
A dark expression crossed Rowan’s face. “Max, I’m just getting started.”
Oh fuck.
???
I spent the rest of the afternoon at Rowan’s place. Thankfully, the incident with Becca and Louise was forgotten about and not mentioned again. Rowan’s mood lifted and he was soon smiling and teasing me like normal.
It was jarring, to be chilling in the home he shared with his wife and daughter, but I did my best to move past it. I believed him when he said he had every intention of telling Christina and I wasn’t going to press the issue. After all, as Becca often reminded me, I wasn’t the one doing anything wrong – technically speaking, anyway.
Eventually, the night drew in and Rowan drove me home. I fidgeted in the passenger seat, feeling strangely sad about parting ways with him. I’d miss him beside me overnight, despite that I was going to be seeing him bright and early the next day for work.
Rowan pulled the car in and looked across at me. “Thanks for the weekend. I’ve had a lovely time.”
“Me too.” I smiled. We both looked at one another for a long moment in silence. I broke first. I leaned over towards him and pressed my lips to his, sighing when he kissed me back.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, hm?” Rowan mumbled between kisses with a smile.
“I don’t know how I’m going to concentrate on work,” I replied.
“I know the feeling, but there’s always the lunch break to look forward to.”
I pulled away and laughed. “You’re such a horndog.”
