There goes my heart, speeding off like a horse at the derby. “What?”
Knox leaned in close, whispering in my ear. “I’m going to take you somewhere we can both get our minds off things here. Just for tonight.”
I swallowed. “But my painting.”
It was February 12, two days before the Valentine’s Day art exhibit. Two days before my painting would be shown to hundreds of guests at Mr. Vender’s request. Two days until I would be representing my family with a painting I didn’t believe in.
“Your painting will still be here tomorrow.” Knox squeezed my waist, his fingers rough and calloused against my skin. “I promise I will get you back at a reasonable time. But why not enjoy tonight together? Away from all the stressors we both have in our lives?”
That certainly was tempting. I wanted to spend time with Knox, time where we would be alone, where there wouldn’t be chaotic friends or strict family members who show up to break us off from whatever private moment we might have.
“Together?” I echoed, unable to help myself.
Knox’s hands moved back, and he gripped tightly onto me just above my ass—a silent promise if ever there was. He nipped at my jaw. “Just for tonight, Lucy. You and me, with no one to disturb us.”
I groaned. He was definitely suggesting what I thought he was suggesting. “And you promise you’ll bring me home early tomorrow?”
Knox smiled against my neck. “I promise. The moment we wake up, I will pack up and bring you home, if that’s what you want. Is that a yes?”
I nodded. “Yes. It’s a yes.”
Knox pulled back from me just to reel me into another of his heated kisses, where my legs melted under me and we breathed the air from each other’s lungs.
“Good,” he exhaled roughly when we broke apart. “Pack yourself up for an overnight trip. I’ll meet you back here in twenty.”
“Thirty,” I requested. I’d need a few extra minutes in the bathroom if he planned what I thought he was planning.
His grin turned sharp, and he gave me a heated once-over. “Thirty it is.”
14
KNOX
After I’d left Lucy in his bedroom to get packed, I started second-guessing my plan. As I packed my clothes into my duffel bag, as I stuffed an emergency first aid kit beside it, and especially when I slipped three condoms into the small pocket just inside where they would be safe—was I making the right choice?
But what other choice was there but to make the most of every moment I had left with Lucy? As much as there seemed to be a spark between us, one growing the more we spoke to each other, the more quiet moments we found together, I knew that there were no guarantees. We were from different worlds.
When Lucy emerged from his bedroom, his blush was back, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes, but there was a smile on his face.
I packed us up into my car, and I drove us to my nana’s house.
Lucy blinked from the passenger seat. “Where are we?”
He glanced around, clearly not used to an older neighborhood on the outskirts of town instead of a modern condo in his apartment unit in the center of the city.
On the bright side, he sounded curious, not judgmental, but the confusion was definitely there. I’d all but promised him the sexiest night of his life, and here I was parking in front of a two-bedroom yellow house with dead plants in a garden that hadn’t been tended since Nana’s diagnosis.
“Lucy,” I cleared my throat, feeling the emotions coming up already. I recalled kneeling in the garden with Nana, planting seeds from my morning apple snack, hoping they would grow into a giant apple tree. “Welcome to my Nana’s house.”
Lucy gasped. “What? Really? Is she here?”
A knife to my chest. “Uh, no. No, she passed a couple of years ago.”
“Oh,” Lucy deflated. “I’m so sorry, Knox.”
“I miss her, but she left me this place once I came home from school.”
I wasn’t sure why I was telling him all of this, but I heard it falling from my lips like a confession anyway. He was far too easy to talk to. Those eyes—brown today, because he hadn’t put his blue contacts in—were enough to break down even the strongest man.
