“Does your visit have a purpose, or do you get off on annoying me?”
He steps into my space, and the intensity in his gaze unnerves me.
Adam tilts his head, a crooked smile tugging at his lips. “You know very well what gets me off, Jackie.”
With that image in my head, my insides ignite. The blaze travels down my belly, pooling low. This is why I need to stay as far away from him as possible. Going to Silver Lake Falls might be useful, after all. I’ve spent too much time around Adam lately, and it’s been extremely tough on my sanity.
“That’s not why I’m here. Unfortunately.” He rounds the desk, lingering.
Unfortunately?! What kind of game is he playing here?
His eyes fall on the black box I left out. The glass animal figurines and shapes are jumbled together inside, the set incomplete. Tucked away like the feelings I had for him.
My rainbow.
I can’t even remember exactly how it started. We ended up at a flea market after one date, and he bought me the first figurine. He kept that going until I had a complete color spectrum, leaving them on my pillow or in my bag. I used to line them up and watch the light create a rainbow in my room.
Adam picks up the red elephant and twirls it between his fingers, brow scrunched, his grin long gone.
“Yeah, the yellow one shattered; it made no sense to leave them out,” I attempt to explain, even though I don’t owe him anything. It made no sense. Why keep it if it was broken?
He’s just opened his mouth to say something when Michelle storms in, talking a million miles an hour.
“Before you go, there are these urgent—” She stutters, blushing furiously at the sight of Adam smiling at her. “Oh…”
It figures.
Just another reminder of who he is. Not a one-woman man. And maybe it’s for the best. I needed the reality check, before I let myself forget that no matter how easily he can still make me burn, trust is the one thing I can’t afford to give him again.
Chapter Eight
JACKIE
“You look like I’m taking you to a maximum security prison.”
Carter’s attempts at conversation during the flight were met with minimal effort on my part. But as we leave the private airport behind and take the coastal road toward Silver Lake Falls, I realize I can’t carry my petulance all the way to Eliza’s doorstep.
Still, I can’t resist one last shot. “We have guards, and restrictions on where I can go. The orange jumpsuit is the only thing missing.”
He lets out a quick sound of dismissal. “I’m not locking you in the guest room.” Then he tries a softer approach, in an attempt to placate me. “The town’s safe. You can go out whenever you want. You’ll love it. You’ll see.”
I cross my arms and stare out the window as the small town comes into view in the distance, colorful houses scattered along the waterline, and clustered around a small harbor where boats bob lazily, masts catching the light.
“I told Quinn you’re coming,” Carter adds. “She’s got a basket of fresh pastries for you.”
That woman sells magic by the pound. In New York, there’d be a line around the block just to get a taste of her baked goods.
“Thank God for butter and sugar,” I mutter. “Otherwise, you’d have to sedate me.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
I turn toward him, sighing in defeat at the wide grin on his face. “You’re lucky I love your fiancée.”
The road curves gently, folding us into the forest on a narrow road, pines and birch crowding close, their deep green pressing on both sides of the car.
When the gates to Carter and Eliza’s lakefront home slide open, that familiar sensation settles over me. Like stepping into a bubble, one the rest of the world can’t quite pierce. Everything always feels suspended here. Every time I visit, I get the eerie sense I’ve wandered into one of those small-town rom-coms I binge with Lilly.
Eliza’s already outside waving at us, the June sun turning the lawn behind her impossibly green, the lake bright enough to look unreal.
