Honesty trembles inside me, begging to be set free. “I’m scared of being hurt. Or not being good enough for you.” Shame forces my chin to droop to my chest.
“That’s impossible.” He cups my cheeks and tilts my face up. His mocha eyes sparkle with honesty. “Lila, we’ve been circling each other like the earth and the sun, gravity doing its thing to keep us tethered. I’ve had years to envision how I’d cherish you if I were lucky enough to earn you.”
Hook. Line. Sinker.
With five more words, he reels me all the way in. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”
TWENTY-SIX
This shit is for the birds
REED
Present Day
For the first time,I wish I had a different career. Wish I didn’t care about the law and justice. That I could just be a man in love with a woman.
Thiscomplicated woman.
With her sunshine and buried pain. With the intricate tapestry of emotions she refuses to reveal, often even hiding them from herself. And with the familiar way she shields her tattered heart behind a carefully curated persona. I recognize it because I do the same thing—only I use grunts and scowls, while her camouflage is far sweeter.
Lila is a mirror to my broken soul, calling out to me with an unspoken promise to make me whole.
Rather than heeding that call, I must retreat from the one thing my heart desires the most.Her.
And I fucking hate it.
As much as I long to pretend the bitter reality away, I can’t do that anymore. As daylight wanes, so do my opportunities to break through her walls to uncover the truth.
Time is up.
What will I do after I learn her secrets? No clue.
When I spot the entrance to the observation tower, I embrace the shitty inevitability. It’s the end of the road. Well, end of the boardwalk in this case.
My eyes travel to the top of the wooden tower overlooking the Hillsborough River. It’s only about fifty feet tall, but I bet it’s too high for Lila. No big deal. The view from the edge of the boardwalk is just as nice.
Gesturing toward the underside of the staircase, I say, “There’s an open bench by the water. Would you like to have a seat?”
“Absolutely. The humidity is making me melt. I can already feel the breeze coming off the water.”
Once we’re seated, she leans forward, craning her neck to see the top of the tower. “You might be able to convince me to go up there. It’s notthathigh. I’d probably survive.”
My eyes follow the same track. “It’s okay. I’m content here.”
She sighs, leaning back and pulling the hair off her neck. The same way I’ve seen her do a hundred times, she twists it and places it on one shoulder. And like every other time, I want nothing more than to drag my mouth along the exposed curve of her upper shoulder.
I cast my sights toward the water, refocusing on my mission. Once I think I can look at Lila without trying to get her naked, I sling an arm over the back of the bench and twist toward her. I’ll start out nice and easy. “How did you end up working at the casino?”
“I went to Oak Winds with Kenzie for her friend’s bachelorette party a few years ago. It was an exciting place to be.” She raises one shoulder casually. “I was tipsy chatting with a dealer named Kiona. She still works there, actually. I noticed how often people were tipping her. And she seemed to be havinga blast. I’d probably had a few too many cocktails because I had the nerve to ask her how much she made in tips, which I wouldn’t even ask a friend if I were sober.”
I nod, easily envisioning a buzzed Lila chatting up a dealer. “And it was a lot?”
“Way more than I was making as a barista at the time. So I figured, what the heck? I asked if they were hiring, and the rest is history.”
“So not some greater calling, huh?”
She purses her lips comically. “I’m fairly certain nobody has ever beencalledto work at a casino.” After glancing my way, she adds, “Present company excluded, the clientèle isn’t quite wholesome.”
