“Law is a little like gambling. You have to know when to hold ‘em and when to plead ‘em.”
“Is this you pleading?”
Juniper’s tone was husky as it shifted to a lower octave, and Rowan thought she might fall to her knees to plead her case right then and there.
“Not yet.” She hoped Juniper could sense the promise in those words.
A smile started to curl the edge of Juniper’s lips. “Work with me in the garden tomorrow, then come to my house for dinner. My mom wants to see you.”
Fuck.
“Don’t be scared, Birdsong,” she teased over her shoulder, walking out of the bedroom.
Rowan’s eyebrows raised of their own volition. “And you wouldn’t be?!”
Later that evening, Rowan overturned her laundry bag to separate out her lights and darks, and a little wildflower formerly tucked into her t-shirt pocket showed its face amongst the piles. Even though it was mostly wilted by now, she still picked it up and walked it over to the vase with the other ones.
This moving experience had been vastly different from all the other ones before.
Chapter 13
The moment her eyes met Rowan’s as she entered the Tribal garden, Juniper took in a sharp breath of realization. She didn’t want to allow herself to feel it. She didn’t want to put a name to the tightening in her chest, the constricting force around the fluttering she felt in her heart. The danger in feeling it was only rivaled by the strength of which she felt it.
Too much. Too soon.
She’d left Rowan’s house yesterday feeling brave, vindicated, even a little seductive. Now, she was a mess of nerves. She pretended to busy herself with the strawberries while she waited the torturous thirty seconds it took Rowan to get to her.
“We need to clear the area and prepare the soil in the raised beds. Mulch some of the soil since it’s getting hot so early this year. It’s time to harvest the strawberries too,” she rattled off, standing and swiping her hands down the front of her spandex shorts to brush the dirt off.
“Good morning to you too. What else?” Rowan smiled.
Hug me. Kiss me. Fuck me against the shed.
“That’s probably it.”
“Doesn’t sound like a long list.”
Juniper pinched the bridge of her nose.
That’s only just the beginning of what I want from you.
“It’s definitely doable,” she mumbled as she turned to walk back to the picnic table where she had her supplies laid out.
Rowan grasped her wrist. “Hey, are you okay?”
She was reluctant to angle her body back, to respond to that. She only gave in when Rowan tilted her head expectantly in the other direction to indicate she wasn’t going to let it go.
“This is embarrassing to admit, but you make me really nervous.”
Rowan smirked. “Juniper Banks? Nervous? Never.”
“Oh, more than you know. I think you saw my anxiety medication when I fumbled into bed drunk off my ass, almost naked, I think also attempting to pull you in there with me.”
She tried that as a joke, but it didn’t even come close to landing. With her free hand, she reached up to smooth the worry line that started to crease the center of Rowan’s brows with her thumb, realizing too late the surprising intimacy of that act.
“Junie, I don’t have any expectations for what this is between us.”
Juniper’s face fell with her hand. No expectations?
