Page 110
“It’s my favorite,” he says.
My questions feel urgent. “You didn’t look it up just to send me there.”
He shakes his head. “We found it together. You liked it once—I knew you would again.”
I swallow, my words caught in my throat for half a second. “The rose tattoo on your chest. Is that for me?”
His brows pull together. Apparently, he doesn’t remember stripping off his shirt in his drugged, Benadryl state. “How— You saw that?”
“You were fairly loose with your words and clothes the night of your allergic reaction.”
His cheeks flush. “Yes. It’s for you.”
Blowing out a breath, my insides tremor with his answers. It’s definitely warm in this house. Still, I ask half a dozen more questions, my breath haggard, Zev firing back answers as quick as I ask.
“I understand why you’re asking. But I haven’t lied to you, Rose.” His eyes lock on mine and his hands wring in his lap. “Well, except when I pretended not to know you. But you didn’t want to know. I was trying to honor that. I never lied about who I am.”
I nod, my chest tight, and my breaths wanting. Everything inside of me tells me it’s too soon to feel these things. And yet everything he’s saying tells me it’s not.
“Thank you for answering my questions.” Getting up once more, I put space between us. If I don’t get a little space, I’m going to do something outlandish—like kiss Zevulun Hayes and take him home with me.
“Rose—” He stands, too.
“I just need to breathe. To think. Okay?” I blink up to his eyes. Blue like the sky. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
Forty-Seven
I sit on the back patio of the café and sulk inside my book. I had to get out of my house. Rosalie’s been thinking for twenty-four hours. Twenty-four more silent hours, not even a text. And while it hasn’t been my favorite day, I realized that I wasn’t lying when I told her I’d wait forever.
I never really thought about it. But it might take her forever. She might never come around. And yet—I don’t doubt that I will be here. Waiting.
I spot Carlos watching me, his expression pitiful. And maybe I am pathetic. But I’m not looking for pity.
I blink and refocus on my book. I’m trying another Addison Adams novel. That’s what’s working for Rose. So, why not?
I’ve read two lines—that I’ve read before—when someone plops into the seat across from me. “Rosalie!” I wheeze.
Her hair is tucked back with a headband. Her cheeks are pink and flushed, and her clear blue eyes are bright. She glances from my face to my book, her lips turning up slightly when she realizes what I’m reading.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, resting my book on the table.
She crosses her legs, her skirt sliding up with the movement and showing off her knee. “Did you realize we’re tracking each other’s locations?”
I close my book and fidget with the cover, but I maintain eye contact. She’s here. “Uh, yeah. I did.”
“Have you been using it?”
Running a hand over the back of my neck, I force myself to not look away like the guilty schmuck I am. “Yes.”
“Because you just had to be near me?” she says, her head tilting.
I nod. “Yes.”
The left side of her mouth lifts in a half grin. “Zevulun Hayes, why did it take me so long to love you?”
“Excuse me?” I choke. I’m not sure I heard her right. I’m waiting for her Rosalie wrath and fire.
“The first time, I mean.” She exhales a shaky breath, but her eyes are bright, her expression is pleasant. I don’t think I’m in trouble. “The fact is, something inside of me knows you—I mean, more than what I know from the last couple months.” She shuts her eyes, thinking, and her nostrils flare with a breath. “You make sense in my heart. Even if my head can’t work it all out. I may not remember you from before, Zev. But something inside of me does.” One tear slips down her cheek. She lifts one shoulder in a shrug.
