“Yeah?”
“It’s okay, really. I want to be here. I want to dine with you,” he confesses.
My heart thumps in my chest, and the burning heat from my cheeks melts through my body and settles exactly where I donotneed it to settle. I feel my pussy throb between my thighs, the instant pooling of wetness an unexpected reaction to his vulnerability. Or, maybe it’s the way he said, ‘dine with you.’ Either way, I am beyond being able to fight this. His eyes bore into me, and I’m lost in them. Golden flecks peek through deep shades of brown and green, the intensity of his gaze is absolutely intoxicating.
“You still with us, darlin’?” Dallas’s voice snaps me from my trance, and without thinking, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip.
“Oww, fuck!” I yelp, and yes, I’mpainfullyaware that I sound like a screeching cat, probably.
“Whoa, easy now.” He reaches his hand to my face, his thumb tracing the tender flesh as he gently inspects the now bleeding wound.Good one, dickhead.
Dallas’s calloused palm slides up, gently caressing my cheek in a soft and intimate gesture. The damn hazel eyes that are rapidly becoming my undoing now lock onto mine as he glides his hand down my face, his thumb gently wiping the droplet of blood from my lip.
“Sorry,” I offer. My cheeks, again, flush crimson.
“Annabeth.” My name leaves his lips like a warning. He doesn’t elaborate, and I don’t reply. I just let my eyes trail up his chest until they fall on his lips. I don’t dare meet his eyes.
“I promise you, Annabeth, you can always be yourself with me. I am a simple man. A man with honest values, crippling debt, a brother that pretends he’s a heartless idiot, even though he’s a hopeless romantic that has a thing for women who are mean to him. I’ve got a kid that would rule the world if we let her. I like good whiskey, the occasional cigarette, and am quite partial to a sunset picnic. I know you’re young, but—”
“I’m twenty-seven,” I interject.
“Firefly, I’m forty-fucking-five,” he replies and a warm, hearty chuckle erupts from his lips. I’ll be damned if that isn’t my new favourite sound.
“Firefly?”
“Your hair is so bright it glows in the dark, like a firefly.”
I just beam at him. At this point I have no idea how long we’ve been here, or where Hannah is with our food, but I want time to stop so I can sit here with Dallas and justexist. I probably look like a downright idiot with my swollen lip and the stupid grin that Iknowis plasteredon my face, but I don’t care.
I am officially obsessed with Dallas fucking Northlane.
Shit.
When Dallas finally drives me home, I’m so terrified I’ll say something insane that I just yell ‘goodnight’ and rush out of his ute and back into my house.What a fucking idiot.
The clock in the lounge room is becoming increasingly loud.I sit on the daybed in the corner, book in hand – some small-town romance novel about a hot lumberjack looking bloke and a billionaire’s ex-wife – and fight a constant battle in my mind. Dallas dropped me off an hour ago, and all I’ve done since then is think about him. His smile, his laugh, how his hand felt against my skin as he comforted me in the diner. How soft his voice was as he spoke to me. How I ran from the car when he dropped me off because I wanted to kiss him but apparently he hasn’t been out with a woman in a while and I didn’t want to make it weird. Plus he seemed to make a big deal of our age gap, so I thought he might be regretting it when he found out that I am, in fact, significantly younger.
I wish I didn’t cut him off when he said I was young. I am, I guess. But now, as I sit here overthinking relentlessly, I’m desperate to know how that monologue ended. Is that what he thinks of me?
Am Itooyoung? I’m only a few years younger than his brother. God, Annabeth, that isnothelping. The front door slams open andElla comes bounding in, a trail of perfume following her as she glides towards me. She always smells divine,like some kind of sugar plum.
“Hiya, toots, what’s going on? You look…weird?”Her eyes trail up my body before settling into a concerned glare that’s radiating through me. She has an insane knack for always knowing exactly what’s going on with someone just by looking at them. I can never hide shit from Ella, she sees through me like I’m made of glass.
“I just got back from Mav’s,” I begin. Her perfectly arched brow cocks. Going to the diner isn’t exactly front-page news, so sheknowsthere’s more. “With Dallas.”
She doesn’t take a breath before she pounces on me, my book becomes collateral damage as I throw it to catch the 5’0’’ bundle of curves that’s catapulting towards me at lightning speed.
“Jesus, Ell,” I squeal.
Ella – now sitting in my lap – wraps her arms around me. She holds me in her embrace for longer than I expect, before planting a kiss on my cheek and releasing me. She’s so close I can see every detail on her skin. The way her makeup is always applied so minimally yet somehow rivals that of a pin-up icon from the 60’s. Ella always exudes effortless glamour. Aside from her lips and her blonde hair, she’s all natural. Every curve, every dimple – she’s beautiful.
“So, you and Dallas, hey?” she inquires casually as if she didn’t just do what she just did.
“No, well, I don’t know. I think it’s complicated,” I reply.
“Annabeth Harrington, in the time I have known you, I have never seen you so much aslookat a man, and now you’re out here seeing one not once, buttwice,in the span of what, a week?”
“I’ve seen him more than twice… Ella. I can’t stop thinking about him,” I confess.
