His mouth snapped shut.
That tone made Juniper want to take Rowan to the closest private location she could find to rip her clothes off of her. She wantedherto talk to her like that. She was more than a little turned on by the protectiveness – possessiveness – of the way her demand halted that man in his tracks.
Maybe she did want to join the mile high club on their next flight.
Juniper couldn’t help but shoot a shit-eating grin at the guy. Sure, she probably would have been pissed too. But fuck him. This was about to be her moment.
Rowan leaned back over her empty seat. As if her gaze alone could accomplish anything in the world, in this moment, it rewrote all of Juniper’s pained memories and replaced them with love and belonging, wholeness and finality.
“Juniper Banks, do you want to be my girlfriend?”
Juniper’s words were all breath and air. “Yes. I do.”
Rowan grabbed their bags and stepped back to let Juniper out of her seat. As Juniper took her first few steps down the aisle to disembark the plane, she heard Rowan behind her.
“Thanks so much for your patience, sir. My girlfriend and I appreciate it. Hope you have a nice rest of your day.”
She barely stifled the laugh that wanted to bubble up from the center of her soul, and her cheeks burned from how thoroughly she was smiling. She caught up to the few passengers still waiting to exit at the very front of the plane and felt Rowan slide a hand around her waist and bring her to her.
Juniper quietly groaned as their bodies made contact.
“You sure know how to pick the right time,” Rowan breathed into her neck.
Juniper reached a hand back to slide down Rowan’s cheek. “You like my chaotic energy.”
“Fuck, I really do.”
Chapter 23
From the AirTran rail that took them to the east side of Manhattan for them to check into the hotel, to the too-small for seats pizza shop they’d gotten a slice at, to the cab ride back into Brooklyn to meet Rowan’s friends, Juniper took in everything.
“Holy shit, Rowan. This city ishuge.”
She stepped out of the cab and onto the sidewalk in front of a gym. She was pretty sure. Then she took in the smell of hot pavement and lingering city trash.
Rowan paid the cab driver and thanked him before stepping out behind Juniper.
“Junie, when I tell you I was a literalhermitwhen I first moved here.”
“You were… twenty-two?” She guessed. She actually didn’t know.
Rowan nodded. “Everyone is sheltered before they move here. But I was totally unprepared. This city will show you a lot of things.”
“Like what?” Juniper narrowed her eyes skeptically.
Catching onto Juniper’s hidden meaning, Rowan scratched the back of her neck. “I didn’t mean itlike that.”
Juniper loved to watch her squirm. “So unassumingly charming. So disarmingly attractive. Then, so mind-blowingly good in bed.”
Rowan smirked and shook her head. “Junie, you’re wild. I’msure Manny would love to tell you all about my absolute lack of game when he first met me.”
“When hefirstmet you… but then I bet you had your pick, here.”
“I have my pick, now.” Rowan tapped her on the nose. “File those jealous feelings away for later. There are things I want to do with those.”
“Fine, me too. You lived here, in this neighborhood?”
“For the last few years, yeah. I lived in uptown Manhattan for school.”
