I smile at the laptop, studying the words on the screen but not reading a single one of them. “Are you saying you’re attracted to me?”
“Yes.”
Startled, I look over at him.
Ash looks thoughtful. “But perhaps we should get to know each other before we rush into anything physical.”
I nod dumbly, still hung up on handsome, put-together Ash being drawn to me.
I feel like there are levels adults attain as they age, and I’m still at the starting line. Ash is several steps ahead of me—he’s anactualgrown-up. I, however, am a twenty-six-year-old playing pretend in her aunt’s fairytale cottage. Technically, yes, I’m an adult. But he’s an adultier adult.
“If you’re free on Saturday, maybe we could?—”
Rowan screeches from the other room, cutting Ash off and making me jump in my seat. I glare toward the living room.
“Right.” Looking annoyed, Ash turns back to the computer. “About that accountant…”
I sigh, accepting that romance is going to be impossible as long as Rowan is my roommate.
I lockthe front door after Ash leaves, turning slowly to glare at the bird on his perch. “We need to have a chat.”
Rowan scowls at me, appearing annoyed. I can’t tell if he actually is, or if that’s just the way screech owls look. “It seems like you had a nice evening.”
“If I have company, make yourself scarce.”
“This is my home, too,” he points out. “In fact, it was my homefirst.”
“Yes, but your name isn’t on the deed, is it?”
He ruffles his feathers, staring at me, and then he takes a deep breath that rocks his whole body. “You’re young and lovely. You can date—youshoulddate. Just not Ash.”
“What’s so wrong with Ash?”
“To put it bluntly? He’s an?—”
“Rowan,” I chastise. “He’s been nothing but nice to me.”
“That’s because he’s enchanted by your magic.”
“I’m not a spring!” I exclaim, a little more stung by that than I want to admit.
“No, you’re worse—you’re a summer. You don’t make people feel puppy love, you make them feeljoy. Your magic is the most addicting drug in the known world, especially to someone who isn’t particularly happy to begin with.” He softens his tone slightly. “Like Ash.”
“Why isn’t Ash happy?” I ask quietly.
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. He’s not your problem to fix.”
“Or is it that you dislike him so much you don’t want me to fix him?”
Rowan doesn’t answer.
“If we’re going to live together, we must establish a few ground rules. First off, you don’t decide whom I date, and you won’t interfere with my dates. And in return, I will consider your well-meaning advice, even if I don’t end up agreeing with you.”
He stares at me, unblinking, and then finally says, “Fine.”
“Fine.”
I sigh, ready to put this behind us. “What did you do this evening?”
