Page 133 of Twisted Knight

I have so much work to do. So much planning to complete. So much fucking over other people’s lives to accomplish.

But I know she is here.

And when she walks out in her white linen pants and light blue shirt looking like the personification of spring, I breathe a little easier.

She startles when she sees me, shifting her cello case in her hand as I jog across the street to her.

“Why are you here?” she asks.

Because I needed someone.

Because I wanted to see you.

Because … it’s you.

FORTY-TWO

Rowan

Because I wanted to be.

Five words in response to me asking, Why are you here? Five words that hit me right in the heart and muddied waters I need to stay clear.

But then I added my own mud to the water when he asked if I wanted to take a drive with him and I said yes.

I study his profile as he drives. The defined lines and strong features. The styled hair and thick lashes.

“You’re staring at me,” he says with a quick glance my way.

“I am.”

“And what do you see?”

A man I can’t quite figure out but want to. A person who knows way too much about me but not the other way around. A lover who is incredible in bed but an enigma outside of it.

“I was just thinking that I bet you don’t play hooky from work very often.”

He gives a crooked smile with his glance this time. “I can’t remember the last time I did.”

“I figured as much.”

“And you? When was the last time you did?” he asks as he makes a turn toward the coast.

“I just did when I went to the Sanctuary.”

“That’s not playing hooky. That’s volunteering. Hooky is when you do something for yourself.”

“That is doing something for myself,” I say.

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever heard of Clayton Seaburn?” I ask.

“No, but if you tell me it’s the name of a Kentucky Derby horse, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

I burst out laughing. “You have a valid point there. But no, he’s not a horse. He’s one of the most acclaimed cello players in the world. He was knighted by the Queen of England and has won every award under the sun. That kind of thing.”

“Okay. What does he have to do with you being at the Sanctuary?”