“Love, huh? That’s a big word you’re throwing out there, Sugar,” he says, his lips quirked up in a smile.
He glances at me from the corner of his eye, slamming on the brakesof the golf cart.
“Ahh!” I scream, my hands flailing about in front of me.
His arm bands around my waist so I don’t slide forward in my seat.
“Why’re you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” I ask, my eyes wide with panic. “Why’d you slam on the brakes!”
“You—you can’t say shit like that if you don’t mean it, Sugar.”
“But I do mean it! You do deserve all the love in the world.”
He blinks at me, his eyes darting frantically between mine like he’s trying to find something important.
“You don’t know what you saying that kinda stuff does to me, do you? I don’t give a shit about all the love in the world, not when all the love I want is fromyou...”
His words make my breath catch in my throat.
Love.
I’ve never given it much thought. I think because I’ve found it everywhere. I don’t think everyone’s brains works this way, but I find things I love everywhere I look.
I loved all the girls I was friends with back at the facility. I love all the new foods I’ve gotten to try since I was sold to the farm. I love anything to do with the sky.
Even though I still have so much to learn about the world around me, I’m not stupid or naive enough to not understand that the love Rowan is talking about is different.
Or at least, he wants it to be. He wants me to beinlove with him.
Am I in love with him?
If I can say I love the clouds in the sky, I think I can say I love him. And all the guys, really. Because that feeling of awe, that feeling that I’m looking at something special and important and magical, is the same sort of feeling I get when I look at them.
I want nothing more than to be with them all. And they do everything in their power to make me feel like I’m safe, by their side.
“Sorry, I—I should just shut up,” he sighs, starting to drive the golf cart again.
His disappointment sits heavily in my chest, almost pulsing through the bond.
“I love you, Rowan,” I say softly, reaching out and resting a hand on his bicep.
He slams on the brakes of the golf cart a second time, but this time I’m prepared.
“You—you don’t know what you’re saying,” he says, shaking his head. “No, you can’t do this to me, Sugar, not if you don’t mean it. I—I?—“
“I do mean it,” I say, my tone almost pleading with him to believe me. “I don’t know when it happened, I don’t think it was a magicboom, I’m in love nowthing, I just think… I just think it happened.”
His chest rises and falls rapidly as he continues staring into my eyes.
“Do you… do you feel the same?” I ask, my voice a little strained at the tail end of my question.
Rowan’s lips crash down onto mine. Normally, he’s a lot more hesitant with his kisses, especially compared to the other guys like Ash. Not this time.
I fall into the kiss, letting all my worries get swept away. There are so many things to look forward to. Like this kiss. I can worry about all the terrible, scary things that’ve been eating me up inside later.
“Fuck yes I do,” he breathes out, resting his forehead against mine.
