Chapter 25
Rowan inhaled deeply and stretched under the weight of Luke’s arm around her waist. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t wake up dreading the day or what was in front of her. But she couldn’t help but wonder what last night had meant. She didn’t regret sleeping with him, but at the same time, she still had so many doubts about what lay ahead for them and what it meant for their future.
His arm tightened around her and he burrowed his face in the crook of his neck. “What are you thinking about so hard this early in the morning?”
“It’s almost ten,” she said.
“Still too early to be thinking that hard. What are you worrying about?”
She turned toward him. His eyes were still closed. “How do you know I’m worrying?”
“Because I know you and it’s what you do.” He shifted to his side and propped his head on one hand. “What’s up?”
“I’m just—What does it say about me that two weeks ago I was ready to marry someone else and now I’m in bed with you?”
His brow furrowed as he frowned. “Nothing. It says absolutely nothing about you. It says I finally broke through and was able to convince you that I’m serious about us, because I know you wouldn’t have had sex with me if you weren’t sure about that.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d read some of the comments on social media.”
“Shit.” He rolled on his back and pulled her to his side. “I quit reading anything written about me on social media a long time ago. Those people are assholes.”
“Is it how you thought it would be?” she asked. “Being a famous country music singer?”
“Some of it. When I’m in the studio making music or I’m singing in front of a crowd…it’s the best feeling in the world. That’s what I thought it would be like. But the other stuff…the public appearances and the social media trolls and the critics—that crap I could do without, but it’s all part of the package. I can’t have one without the other.”
“Would you change anything, if you could?”
He tilted his head to look at her. “Just one thing. You?”
“Just one thing,” she whispered.
“We can’t go back and change things.” He kissed her forehead. “We can only go forward and try not to make the same mistakes we did before.”
They lay there for several minutes. Rowan closed her eyes and was on the edge of falling back asleep when Luke asked, “What made you change your mind?”
“About what?”
“Coming out here.”
“Michael.”
“What about him?” She could hear his disgruntlement.
“He came by the apartment and we talked about what happened.”
“How’d that go?”
She shrugged. “It was fine. I think we realized we’d both been having doubts about getting married for a while, but neither of us wanted to hurt the other. We weren’t in love with each other anymore. He asked about you and I told him you wanted me to come here. He said I should do it. Not becauseyoudeserved another chance, but because I did.”
She tilted her head back to look at him.
“Hmm. I’ll have to send him a thank you card.”
She smiled and snuggled back into the crook of his shoulder.
“How long are you staying?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
