I do one more lap, but when I pop back up again, he’s still squatting near the edge of the pool, one eyebrow quirked. “You missed.”
My glare has him pushing to his feet with a sigh. “I can leave…” he frowns, gesturing over his shoulder.
Well, shit. Now I kinda feel bad.
“No,” I say a little too quickly. “I mean... it’s a public pool.Sort of. You have just as much right to be here as I do. I take it Logan gave you a key too?”
“Yup.”
An awkward silence hangs in the air before Rowan speaks up. “About last night—” he starts.
“Nope,” I cut him off as I move toward the ladder and haul myself out of the pool.
“Look. I know you said you needed time, but can we at least talk about what it would look like? We wouldn’t have to be seen together all the time. Just enough for the paps to get a few good pictures in here and there.”
His eyes burn a path over my skin as I pad over to the bench to grab my towel. I thought about what he said after he left last night. Would it be so bad to pretend to be his girlfriend? There was a time I wanted that for real, more than anything.
But now? I’m not so sure.
“Come on. Let me take you to get something to eat so we can talk about it. Please?”
When I release my hair from the elastic band and it falls around my shoulders, Rowan’s eyes flare. I eye him silently as I use the towel to squeeze out the excess water from the dark strands, watching as his gaze travels down my body and up again.
I pop an eyebrow when his eyes lock with mine after I wrap the towel around me, hiding most of my body from his heated stare.
“Fine. But you’re buying.”
His grin tugs at a place that hasn’t been touched in months. “You got it, Sunshine.”
“Stop calling me that.”
twenty-six
I spentmost of my childhood in love with Lizzy Cade. Of course, being so young meant I had no idea what to do with those feelings other than tease her relentlessly. I was able to hide said teasing behind the fact that her twin brother, Logan, was my best friend.
But so was Lizzy.
Now she’s sitting with me at a table at one of Lakeside’s most popular lakeside restaurants. In a span of seconds, my heart filters through a multitude of emotions. Most of which I’m able to whittle down pretty quick.
Surprise: Because I can’t believe she’s actually here sitting across from me.
Guilt: For spending the last fifteen years doing everything I can to forget about how I feel about her. Trampling down emotions that have been a part of me for as long as I can remember. Not to mention how many women were used in an attempt to erase the memory of us.
Didn’t work for shit, by the way.
Love: No matter how hard I tried to shove the memories ofher aside, she was always there, hovering in the periphery of my brain.
Lust: Not only can’t I seem to make this feeling go away, but it just keeps getting stronger every time I see her.
The lake sparkles as sunshine filters through the window and across the table, highlighting her dark hair. I have to force myself not to reach across the table and wrap a lock of it around my finger.
She’s studying the menu intently, though I suspect it’s more to avoid looking at me than struggling to decide what to eat.
“See anything you like?” I ask, trying to keep my voice casual.
“Maybe,” she replies, still not meeting my eyes.
When the server shows up, saving us from more awkward silence, her eyes go wide when she sees me, but manages to get her shit together pretty quick.
