Page 210 of Romeo

Soon.

I want you.

None of them were promises, and I wouldn’t turn them into one just because I wanted them to be.

But they were hers.

That made them worth waiting for.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Fiona

My hands were still shaking when I turned onto the road toward Granny’s house.

I tightened them around the steering wheel, hoping the pressure would settle the tremor, but it seemed to live somewhere deeper than my fingers. The gas station was already several miles behind me. Frank had followed until I was nearly home before finally turning back, but only after making me promise twice that I would text the second I got inside.

I could still feel the stranger’s hand around my wrist.

That was the part my mind kept returning to. Not his face or the cigarette smell clinging to his clothes. The pressure of his fingers tightening when I tried to pull away. The way he’d used his body to block my car door so casually, as if I had no right to leave until he decided the conversation was finished.

I know where you work.

My breath shortened.

I forced myself to inhale slowly through my nose, held it, then released it the way the counselor at St. Agatha’s had taught me years ago. It had helped with panic attacks then.

Tonight, counting didn’t do much.

My phone buzzed in the cupholder.

I glanced down when I reached a straight stretch of road.

Jasper: How’s my favorite girl’s day going?

My eyes burned.

Of course he’d text now.

Me: Fine.

I set the phone down and kept driving.

It buzzed again before I reached the next curve.

Jasper: Fine?

Me: Yes.

Jasper: That’s all I get?

Despite everything, the corner of my mouth almost moved. Almost.

Me: What do you want?

Jasper: Preferably a detailed account of how often you’ve thought about kissing me today.

A laugh should’ve come with that. Instead, my throat tightened.