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Rowan cocked his head, smiling at me. “I’m intrigued. Tell me.”
“I think you owe me the explanation first. You practically kidnapped me from my day job.” The way his lips spread in a grin around his coffee cup while he sipped, and I understood why he was in that stupid magazine. “I come here a lot during the week if there’s not much happening with work, and too much happening up here.” I pointed to my forehead, glancing away from Rowan and his mouth. “Finish your story about how lonely your love life is.”
“It’s not lonely.”
“I don’t need the details, just the story,” I urged, really not wanting to picture Rowan in any not-lonely-love-life situation. It distracted me from the way his fingers tapped the side of his coffee cup.
“One magazine my agent set me up with was doing some article about the city’s most,” he scoffed, adding air quotes, “eligible bachelors. So now, because I’m not married or whatever, I’m being stalked by the media. They’re all looking to see who I’m with.”
“That’s brutal,” I agreed. “You can’t even not get laid in this town without people chasing you down.”
“Stop it!” Rowan turned to me, his laugh genuine. “It sounds conceited, but it’s really miserable, Meredith.” His right hand dangled at his side, brushing the roses lining the wall.
“So, who was the woman at your house?” I sipped my coffee as I stared over the skyline. Clouds were moving in from the west, swollen poofs dangling over downtown. “Was she who we thought? And, more importantly, what did you do with her balloons? It must’ve been a big job to blow all of those up, but I mean, she does that for a living, so I guess it’s okay if you didn’t keep them.”
He rolled his eyes, shaking his head while fighting a smile. His resistance was contagious.
Rowan fidgeted with a rose petal. “Yeah,” he quietly groaned. “I just wanted to play baseball, Meredith. Me and my dad, we’d play all the time, and it was all I ever dreamed about. The grass, the crowd, the feel of my mitt, the taste of the dirt from sliding into home.”
“Oh,” I wondered, “so you didn’t think you’d have rich friends sending fancy entertainment as birthday presents and become famous and offer your friends one hundred thousand dollar checks to help you?”
“Did I just buy our friendship?” He turned to me, squinting.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I teased, hopping down from the wall and nodding to the petal. “You could get in big trouble for that.”
Rowan looked at the rose petal twirling between his index and middle fingers. “What do you think would happen?”
“Aside from the clearly labeled sign at the entrance,” I rolled my eyes, “they might stick one of your single fans on you, or more photographers.”
Rowan reached into his pocket for his phone as he slid from the wall, typing frantically while shaking his head. When his head rolled back and his eyes fixed on the gray clouds, I watched his chest move with his laughter.
“What’s so funny, Ellis?”
Lowering his head to look at me, Rowan bit his bottom lip and I swear my stomach felt it. “My agent wants to know who my girlfriend is.” Waving his phone in my face, I snatched it from him.
“Could they at least have used a more flattering picture of me?” He’d just pulled my sweatshirt over the cap he put on my head, tapping my nose, and it was all caught on camera.
“What?” He took the phone back, studying the picture of us. “You look gre—”
“No,” I interrupted. “My butt looks huge.”
“You and your butt look,” Rowan scratched his jaw, “great.”
Rolling my eyes, I wasn’t sure where to look. He complimented me. No—he complimented my butt. Rowan Ellis, the man I’ve disliked a great deal since college, was being… Nice? Nice-ish. And complimenting my butt. How did I respond to that? Forget the fact his agent thought we were dating. Wait, what?
My mouth was dry, but the rest of me felt grossly mushy when I finally caught Rowan’s gaze, all icy and blue and smoldering.
“I really… Um… Thank you for the coffee, and for trusting me with your story. I should really get back to work. Do you… Could you… My car?”
His hand wrapped around my wrist when I stepped away, his movement yanking me back toward him. “Did I offend you, Meredith?”
“Which time?”
Rowan licked his lips before they spread into a grin, hopefully distracted by my attempt at sarcasm. Lightning spread across the sky, crackling thunder splitting the surrounding forest. We never have thunderstorms in Portland. Of course, it happens when I’m stuck in the Rose Garden with Rowan Ellis. What the heck, universe?
Rain slammed into him, melting off his body while the sky opened above us. Rowan reached for the hem of his shirt as I stood there, thankful the brim of his cap covered my face when I looked down.
“Here!” He waved the fabric in front of my face, which I know just about melted in the rain when I looked up at him. “Put this on. You’re going to get soaked in that dress.”
