firmly and he nods toward the bandage. “I have somewhere else to be.”
Sonya slaps the bandage on his hand, making him wince. “Get a fucking haircut and shave that shit off your face. You may not be human on the inside, but you could at least look the part.”
Anger flushes his cheeks, but at least now she has his full attention. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means grow a fucking set and man up.” Her eyes scan him from scruff to scuffed boot. “If she could see you—”
He jumps off the bed. “Well, it’s a good goddamn thing she can’t,” he says and storms out of the room.
The door slams behind him and Sonya flinches. “—she’d kick your ass,” she finishes quietly, and the words seem to echo in the empty room.
Yes. I definitely like her.
• • •
Declan clips an Electric Indigo lotus flower from their dedicated section in the garden and passes it to me. He knows these hybrid lotus flowers are my favorite.
“Tell me again how we met,” I say and bury my nose in the cloying scent of the flower.
He smiles as if he loves reliving this memory as much as I love hearing it. They are only stories to me, and I hope to remember them for myself one day.
“You were eating lunch by yourself in a park. I happened to be in Richmond for a business meeting. Before it even began I decided the perfect spring day was too beautiful to waste and found myself drawn to the park.”
I do not ask him about Richmond anymore. I have no memory of glass skyscrapers and paved roads and walkways and hundreds of people, but I can imagine now what it must look like from the books I have been reading. It must be amazing to see buildings made of steel and glass, domed or pointed or slanted or square roofs. The men who design them do amazing things. Impossible things.
“You drew me in like a magnet,” he continues. “And in the days that followed, we met there for lunch and conversation. Same time, same place.”
“Was I madly in love with you?” I ask for the first time.
His sea-green gaze darts to me and back to the gray paving stones under our feet that are wet around the edges from the recent spray. He tucks his hands into his pockets, bunching the sides of his suit jacket back.
“I like to imagine you were,” he answers carefully.
“I was not?”
“It took you some time; that’s all. You were difficult to”—he pauses for the space of two heartbeats—“acquire.”
I laugh, but there is something about this word “acquire” that rings of another meaning. “You make it sound like I was a difficult purchase.”
He sighs and slows to a stop. “There are a lot of things about the world we live in that you don’t understand. Things you’ll find out in time.”
My heart begins pounding and my previously happy feelings melt away. “The time is not now?”
“You aren’t ready. Your mind is still fragile from the accident and I’m wary to rush you.” He edges closer and cups my face. “I don’t want to lose you. Taking it slow is our best chance.”
I don’t know what he sees in my face, but he pulls me out of the view of curious glances from the employees working in the garden. He pushes us through a doorway I have never noticed before and into a small, empty hallway. More nondescript doors lead off to places I am unaware of.
My curiosity is piqued and I want to inquire about this place but am suddenly against the wall and his mouth is on mine. He is not careful and my body heat rises in response. His fingers thread into my hair, and when he pulls away, it is only to leave us heaving for air and filled with longing.
“I love you so much,” he says. “More than you’ll ever imagine.”
I reach up and cover his hands with mine. I do not understand this outburst of emotion, but I know what my response should be. “I love you, too.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire,
She says and chuckles.
You’re much better at this than I ever gave you credit for.
She is
Sonya slaps the bandage on his hand, making him wince. “Get a fucking haircut and shave that shit off your face. You may not be human on the inside, but you could at least look the part.”
Anger flushes his cheeks, but at least now she has his full attention. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means grow a fucking set and man up.” Her eyes scan him from scruff to scuffed boot. “If she could see you—”
He jumps off the bed. “Well, it’s a good goddamn thing she can’t,” he says and storms out of the room.
The door slams behind him and Sonya flinches. “—she’d kick your ass,” she finishes quietly, and the words seem to echo in the empty room.
Yes. I definitely like her.
• • •
Declan clips an Electric Indigo lotus flower from their dedicated section in the garden and passes it to me. He knows these hybrid lotus flowers are my favorite.
“Tell me again how we met,” I say and bury my nose in the cloying scent of the flower.
He smiles as if he loves reliving this memory as much as I love hearing it. They are only stories to me, and I hope to remember them for myself one day.
“You were eating lunch by yourself in a park. I happened to be in Richmond for a business meeting. Before it even began I decided the perfect spring day was too beautiful to waste and found myself drawn to the park.”
I do not ask him about Richmond anymore. I have no memory of glass skyscrapers and paved roads and walkways and hundreds of people, but I can imagine now what it must look like from the books I have been reading. It must be amazing to see buildings made of steel and glass, domed or pointed or slanted or square roofs. The men who design them do amazing things. Impossible things.
“You drew me in like a magnet,” he continues. “And in the days that followed, we met there for lunch and conversation. Same time, same place.”
“Was I madly in love with you?” I ask for the first time.
His sea-green gaze darts to me and back to the gray paving stones under our feet that are wet around the edges from the recent spray. He tucks his hands into his pockets, bunching the sides of his suit jacket back.
“I like to imagine you were,” he answers carefully.
“I was not?”
“It took you some time; that’s all. You were difficult to”—he pauses for the space of two heartbeats—“acquire.”
I laugh, but there is something about this word “acquire” that rings of another meaning. “You make it sound like I was a difficult purchase.”
He sighs and slows to a stop. “There are a lot of things about the world we live in that you don’t understand. Things you’ll find out in time.”
My heart begins pounding and my previously happy feelings melt away. “The time is not now?”
“You aren’t ready. Your mind is still fragile from the accident and I’m wary to rush you.” He edges closer and cups my face. “I don’t want to lose you. Taking it slow is our best chance.”
I don’t know what he sees in my face, but he pulls me out of the view of curious glances from the employees working in the garden. He pushes us through a doorway I have never noticed before and into a small, empty hallway. More nondescript doors lead off to places I am unaware of.
My curiosity is piqued and I want to inquire about this place but am suddenly against the wall and his mouth is on mine. He is not careful and my body heat rises in response. His fingers thread into my hair, and when he pulls away, it is only to leave us heaving for air and filled with longing.
“I love you so much,” he says. “More than you’ll ever imagine.”
I reach up and cover his hands with mine. I do not understand this outburst of emotion, but I know what my response should be. “I love you, too.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire,
She says and chuckles.
You’re much better at this than I ever gave you credit for.
She is
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