His reaction has my heart pounding faster in my chest. I reach for my pulse point, hoping it will calm me. He watches as my hand goes up, his eyes narrowing as soon as my fingertips touch the sensitive spot.
“I need to tell you something.”
The serious bite to his tone has my hand dropping. Oh no, he’s going to tell me we can’t be friends anymore, that this is too much and I really am going crazy. I brace myself for his rejection. I close my eyes so I don’t have to see his face when he breaks the news. I don’t think my heart can take it.
“What?”
“I think we need—” he clears his throat. “I think we need to talk to Lily and Luka.”
My eyes snap open wide with shock. “What?”
“Last year, something happened. Something that involved dreams and voices too.” His eyes shutter, like he’s reliving something painful. That causes a lump to form in my throat.
“What?” I feel like a broken record, but that’s the only response I seem to be able to push through my lips.
“I will explain later, but I think they can help.” There is still an insurmountable amount of tension in his shoulders, but his eyes have softened, so much so that I start to think that he believes me.
“When?” My question is barely above a whisper.
“Let me see what they are doing tonight.” He reaches in his pocket and slips out his phone, quickly typing out a text. “Sent. Now let’s get this done so we can get out of here. Either way, I want to hang out tonight. Is that okay?”
I’m so relieved at his acceptance of the craziness that just came out of my mouth that I go weak in the knees. “I would love that.”
His smile is small but genuine. I can tell he’s still stressed and tense, but he seems to be trying to let it go. “Good. And I have a game tomorrow. I would love for you to be there.”
My smile mirrors his. “I would love that too.”
“Good.”
My smile widens. We work together quickly and efficiently to get the framing up in the room, my mind quickly quieted by the thrumming repetition of a nail biting into the wood. Rowan steals silent glances my way every few minutes.
I catch him a few times, and each time his smile grows centimeter by centimeter until it becomes a little game in my head. How big can his smile really go? I giggle to myself at the thought of his smile as wide as the Cheshire cat.
“Are you laughing at me?” he finally asks.
I chuckle, “Maybe.”
“Why?” he asks just as he shoots in the last nail.
“Because you keep looking at me.”
“Is that a crime? Maybe I think you’re pretty to look at.”
My heart slams into my chest, hammering away in my throat. The most delicious heat blooms deep in my belly. “Is that so?” I ask as nonchalantly as possible.
He just nods his head and says, “The prettiest.”
Before I have a chance to respond, Rowan’s phone dings in his pocket. He grabs it, reading off a text from Luka.
“He says they’re free, and they want to know if we can do dinner with them.”
He looks up when I don’t say anything. Dinner feels intimate, and are we going to have a chance to really talk? Whatever it is, the information seems sensitive. Maybe out in public isn’t the best place to talk, but I also have no idea what the information is. “What do you want to do?”
He doesn’t hesitate with his response. “I would like to have dinner with you, Daredevil.” The way his eyes linger on mine, a brightness in them I haven’t seen before, has my pulse picking up.
I fiddle with the tool belt still latched around my waist. “What about what we need to talk about?”
“I’ll talk to Luka. We can pick a place that's quiet.”
