He grins from the side. “And now look at you, up here all alone in a tree with me.”
I swing my legs back and forth. “And I haven’t threatened to push you off once.”
He turns with a half-smirk waiting for me. “The night isn’t over, Princess.”
“And neither is the season.”
Rome’s smile slips, and the space between us grows tight.
I fiddle with the bark again, afraid to look into his eyes for too long. I came out here for a reason, and it’s taken less than a minute with him to forget why.
I force a breath through my lips and stare at his hands against the branch. “Sitting at the dinner table, I decided I was going to come out here and tell you we needed to stop whatever it is we’re doing.”
The cords in Rome’s forearms flicker. “Because your dad mentioned the weather conditions for the race."
My spine presses against the trunk.How did he know?
“I’m a distraction,” he adds.
He is. Abigone.
“I haven’t bothered to think about the next race since touching down from Spain,” I admit. “It’s so unlike me.”
“Would it make you feel better to know that I haven’t thought much about it either?” he asks.
We both know why neither of us has paid attention, and being this wrapped up in something—someone—is dangerous, especially when there’s so much at stake for both of us.
His career.
My career.
Both of our reputations.
If there's even a single slight between us, those things all come crumbling down.
“Whatever I do to you…you do it to me too.” He gazes at me from across the branch, the truth written all over his face. “You always have.”
A frown pulls at my lips. “What do you mean?”
“There’s always been something about you, Tess. Even when we were kids, before your dad left Pierce Racing, I was drawn to you.” He glances at me briefly. “Don’t you remember me always coming to your rescue when your brothers would torment you? Or what about the time you bumped into the tire trolley, and one of the tires clipped my dad’s ankle?”
The memory plays out like a movie in front of my eyes.
“I forgot about that,” I whisper.
He stays quiet.
“You took the blame.”
“I couldn’t bear the thought of him yelling at you,” he admits.
I wince, remembering what happened next. “He hit you.”
Rome crosses his arms and gazes at the side of my house. “And your dad stepped in to smooth things over, like always.”
“I’m beginning to think my dad knows more about you than I do.”
“Why do you think he let me join Vanstone?” he asks. “Despite your earlier assumptions, it isn't to take it out from beneath him. That’s something Lucas Pierce would do, and honestly…” A swallow works down Rome’s throat. “I’d wreck a thousand times over again if it meant knowing the truth.”
