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“Hey, is Rowan still here?” I ask as she grabs her purse from under the counter.
“Yeah, she’s in the office. You can go back there if you want. I won’t tell anyone.” Kenzie shoots me a wink. I walk her to the door, let her out, then relock the entrance.
When I go to the back, I see Rowan sitting in the office with her head down on the desk.
“Rowan?” I ask softly.
“Yeah?” She turns around, and I can tell she’s been crying by how puffy her eyes are. It hurts my heart to see her like this.
“You okay?”
She nods and forces a smile, wiping her cheeks. “I’ll be fine.”
Shaking my head, I walk toward her, and she stands.
“Thanks for sticking up for me. I appreciate it.”
“I’d punch him for you any day of the week,” I tell her with a grin.
A chuckle escapes her. “You’d protect any woman who was being called names like that. He’s such a dick.”
I shrug. “Not sure what you saw in him, honestly.”
“Me either.” Rowan glances at me before moving past me. “I need to close out the drawers.”
I follow her, going behind the bar as she takes out the money. “So…” I laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “I didn’t realize you were the batshit crazy ex-girlfriend type who seeks revenge on luxury cars.”
She eyes me. “It was a moment of weakness.”
“Didn’t look too weak to me with the way you were swinging that tire iron. I guess all those years of playing softball in high school did you some good.”
Rowan grins, then scoffs, trying to blow me off, but I’m standing way too close to her to be ignored. I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about this, but something in the way she looks at me says more than her words ever could. That familiar spark I saw when I kissed her the first time returns and dances behind her eyes.
As she sucks in a ragged breath and her lips part, I have the urge to kiss her again. We’re too close, and I can smell the sweetness of her skin and the flowery scent of her shampoo. Loose strands of her dark hair fall from her ponytail, and I reach over and tuck them behind her ear. Her chest rises and falls when I place my thumb under her chin, hoping she gives me permission to move in.
The world around us seems to fade away as I lean closer. My heart is galloping in my chest as Rowan’s eyes flutter closed. I lick my lips, and then as if someone turned on the lights, she moves away from me and denies our kiss. Shattered is the only way I can describe how I feel, but it also gives me hope. We were so close, but I understand her hesitancy.
She just went through a major breakup, one that had her beating the shit out of his car, so it might seem too soon. Having her almost give in to me, though, is all the encouragement I need to know that not all hope is lost between us. That fire is still burning bright, and I’ll do whatever I need to help it blaze.
“You should open your gift,” I say, swallowing hard around a large lump in my throat.
“Okay.” She nods.
I gain my courage after being rejected and follow her back to the office. She rips off the paper on the small box and looks at me with happiness as she holds a mood ring between her fingers.
“Where did you find this?” she asks, grinning.
I lean against the doorframe, soaking in her beautiful features. “You lost it when we were younger.”
“Yeah, I remember. Me, you, Riley, and Elle were playing tag, and it fell off,” she reminds me.
I nod. “I spent an entire week looking for it out in the pasture.”
“And you actually found it?” She seems shocked.
“I refused to give up because I knew how much you loved it,” I admit.
“Why didn’t you give it back to me then?” Rowan’s eyes meet mine as she adjusts the sizing and slips it on her finger.
“Because you hated me, and I didn’t want you to think I was weird or something.”
She lets out a holler of a laugh. “You’ll always be weird to me, Adam. But thank you. It really means a lot.”
“So what color is it?” I step inside the office and look down at the ring.
“Pink,” she says, and I watch her cheeks heat.
“Which means what exactly?” I’m actually curious. She had all the meanings for the colors memorized when we were younger.
Rowan shakes her head and playfully tucks her plump bottom lip inside her mouth.
“Come on, tell me,” I urge. “I promise I won’t laugh.”
She sighs, inhaling a deep breath. “Fine. It means feeling flirty or romantic,” she tells me with a chuckle, and my eyebrows rise.
