Being dead serious, I say, “I’m not flirting. I’m stating facts.”
“Oh,” she says quietly. And I watch as she cutely attempts to process the information.
“So please, stay, just a little while longer.”
It takes her a second, but then, to my surprise, she wets her lips and nods, lying back down. I take her hand in mine, and together, we both stare at the stars, not saying anything, just enjoying the moment. Sure, my life hasn’t been ashardas many others’, but I didn’t know you could simply lie with someone and know peace. It’s as though my life has just had to keep one-upping itself. Each dare. Each truth. Each fuck. But this? This is rare.This is…good.
Chapter Twenty-Two
RENLEY
“Your gentleman caller came by this morning, asking if you were planning on going on your walk,” Aunt Kitty says as I stumble into the kitchen, severely hungover thanks to her homemade wine. “Told him that you were still sleeping and that I didn’t foresee you going for your walk.”
“Can you please not call him my gentleman caller?”
“Isn’t that what he is? He’s trying to court you, and I’d say after yesterday, he was able to do such a thing. Rupert and I had a little something to do with that. Thank you very much.”
“Can you not meddle in my life?” I ask as I lay my face flat on the surface of our kitchen table, letting the coldness seep into my skin.
“If I didn’t meddle, then you wouldn’t have had your first kiss last night.”
“What are you talking about? We didn’t kiss.”
“You didn’t kiss?” she nearly shouts as she puts a pile of hash browns in front of me along with a bottle of ketchup.
“No, there was no kissing.”
“No kissing? After we set you up with whipped cream, strawberries, music,andmood lighting, you didn’t end up kissing that man? Renley.” She turns to me, hand on her hip, fork in the air, pointing in my direction. “There is something wrong with you if you couldn’t muster up the courage to kiss that man.”
“I told you, I’m not looking for anything romantic.”
Then again, I will say, there was a small moment when we were on the grass staring up at the sky where I felt the urge to snuggle in close and rest my head on his shoulder. I’m sure he’d have welcomed it, and my body yearned for it, but my mind had urged me to see that it wasn’t a great idea.
I listened…not entirely, but I listened. I didn’t stay far away, but I didn’t snuggle either, so it was a happy medium. And I’m glad I didn’t listen, because I probably would have regretted it this morning.
I would have regretted a kiss.
A late-night kiss under the stars.
A late-night kiss under the stars with one of the most handsome men I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Right?
I’d have regretted it.
Surely I would have.
I would have woken up and thought, what the hell was I thinking? Why did I kiss a man who tried to propose to me the same day we met? Just…insanity.
Instead, I woke up with…uh…with…ugh, I woke up thinking about the night I had and how it felt so simple. So easy. Even though he annoys me, he still has this intriguing quality that keeps me coming back for more. I don’t know why. And let’s be honest: his accent is divine and I love listening to him speak. He’s so polished.
“Are you thinking about him right now?”
“No,” I scoff.
As the English would say, pishposh.
Not thinking about him in the slightest…
