“You’re so talented,” I say to him, “but more than that, I think you’re really brave for putting yourself out to the world like you do. I think I’d self-destruct.”
He searches my face. “Do you think you’re going to put your sculptures out into the world?”
“I have a lot of work to do before I can start that. Like the whole business side of it, plus I have to finish the figures I want to sell. I have tons of stuff to do.”
“I can help you,” he says.
I tense. “In the next twenty-four hours?”
He takes a deep breath. “No. Not that fast. We’d need more time.”
“From the hotel?”
“No. Not from the hotel.” His gaze turns so intense I nearly squirm. “I want to tell you something.”
“Okay. Tell me.”
I reach for my glass of water, and have just taken a sip when Dylan says—
“Is it okay to be falling in love with someone you know you’re supposed to break up with in a day?”
I choke so badly on the water that Dylan has to get up and pat me on the back.
Love.
That’s a word I’ve never heard uttered in my direction. It’s not an emotion I’m comfortable with or accustomed to. And it’s not something I know what to do with.
After about ten seconds, I hold up my hand to let him know I’m fine.
“Wrong thing to say?” he asks as he sits back down.
I give him a shaky smile.
“Just a wild guess.” He fixes his eyes on mine like he’s afraid if he looks away for a second he’ll miss something, some clue to let him in on how to solve the mystery of Jasalie Gordon. “Look, I know we’ve done this all wrong. And I’m not even sure where we go from here, but I mean what I said. I love you, Jasalie.”
He says the words so easily, and I believe he means them. To hear someone tell me they love me—my heart melts.
Dylan covers my hand with his. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you or scare you off.”
“That’s not it, Dylan. I’m just really new at all of this. At relationship stuff.”
He leans back but keeps his gaze on me. “I am, too.”
I blink. “So what do we do?”
“We figure it out. Somehow.”
I like the sounds of that. “Okay.”
A woman passes by our table. “Annabella!” she calls out loudly as she heads for the table directly behind us.
Dylan flinches.
“Are you all right?” I reach across the table and take his hand. “What’s wrong?”
He turns around to look at the woman who’s already seated with another lady I assume is Annabella.
When he faces me again, his expression is tight. “I need to talk to you about something,” he says. “After we finish up here, maybe we can go back to the hotel?”
