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Lilac got ahead of him and stumbled into the parking lot. “Which one is yours?” she asked, her voiceshaky.
“No car,” he said. When she didn’t seem to respond, he leaned forward and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go to the park,okay?”
“Okay,” said Lilac, still clearly out of it. “Tildy Park,baby!”
“No, not Tildy World. Theparkpark. It’s downhere.”
She stumbled after him. “It’s a little dark,” she said, looking around them. They approached the edge of the park and Nolan made a beeline for a bench under a tree to the side of the entrance. There were still kids out—and sometimes his dad brought his own siblings here—and the last thing they needed was Lilac making ascene.
“What time is it?” asked Lilac as she sat down besidehim.
Nolan pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it. “9:30.” Landon would already be inbed.
Again, thoughts of his siblings sobered him, forcing his head clear of all the images of this gorgeous blonde sans sweats flashing before hiseyes.
He would never, not in this kind of situation, butdamn, if she wasn’t making it hard for him to thinkclearly.
Lilac gazed up at him conspiratorially. “Are we fucking in a park?” she asked, chuckling. “So brazen,” she said. “I love it.” She grabbed for her zipper on herhoodie.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Nolan reaching for her hand. “Slowdown.”
Clutching his hand with both of hers, Lilac slammed it against one of her breasts. It was so large, it spilled out beyond his palm. He’d never cupped a breast that largebefore.
Her eyes looked so earnest, sohungry.
He recoiled, yanking his handaway.
“You don’t want me?” she asked, sad. “I thought you all wanted me. My boobs. My big, big, heavy, annoyingboobs.”
“What? No,” he said. She looked crushed. “No, Ido!” he said without thinking. “I just don’t want you likethis.”
Lilac leaned back against the bench, practically spread-eagling herself. “Fucking take me and make it all go away. That’s what you all want, right? Well, maybe I want it, too. Maybe that’s what I need. Fuck love, fuck commitment, just fuckme.”
Nolan watched nervously around him to see if anyone had heard. The nearest people—a family—were some distance away at the playground, but he caught the dad’s head turning toward them and the guy’s gaze lingered. Nolan grunted in frustration. Even if he hadn’t heard them, he saw her there, practically melting into the bench, her arms and legs spreadopen.
He grabbed for her arms and gently guided her to snap her appendages closer together. She mistook the gesture, craning her head up and pressing her lips tohis.
Nolan actually stopped breathing. He didn’t know for how long. That moment felt like an eternity—in the best possible sense. He hadn’t felt that way since he’d watchedCosmosa few years back and it had really hit him—reallyhit him—just how small and insignificant his life on this tiny planet in this tiny corner of the galaxywas.
Lilac’s lips on his was like that—a discovery of more. More beyond his insignificance. And it was here, all for thetaking.
He knew he took too long to slide back out of her reach. He hadn’t meant to—it was just that that moment had made timestop.
Sitting back in the bench beside her, he ran a hand through his hair infrustration.
This was bad on so many levels. Not least of which was she was going to sober up and forget this ever happened—or worse, regretit.
She leaned against his arm and he jumped inplace.
“Look, can I call someone for you?” he asked. “Can I call your auntFrankie?”
“No,” said Lilac, a touch of anger in hertone.
Had they fought? But Nolan was undeterred. “Does she know where you are? Is she going to be worried aboutyou?”
“No and no,” said Lilac, smiling and bopping his nose with the tip of her delicatefinger.
Nolan sat there in silence as Lilac wrapped her arm through his. “Can I see your phone?” he asked. He wouldn’t go through her contacts to call Frankie—yet—but he wanted to make sure there were no texts or voice mails asking where shewas.
