Page 5 of Are You Gonna Run?
My fingers are shaking as I get one for myself, and suddenly I feel way out of myelement. I’m used to dating guys who falsely believe I’m out of their league, not men who exude confidence and make me feel like I’m out of my depth. I find I like it, though. I really like it.
“So why fake plants?” he asks after a few moments of comfortable silence. “Allergies?”
“Nope, I’m not allergic to anything but dust mites. I just can’t keep a plant alive to save my life, and it always made me sad when they died. Fake ones are easier.”
“That’s fair.” His fingers flex on the steering wheel, and when I glance up at his eyes I see they’re locked on my legs. “Any pets?”
“No. I always wanted a cat, but there are too many glass jars laying around my house. What about you?”
“Not yet. I was thinking about getting one though. You vote cat?”
I love dogs too, I just don’t have the time to love one the way they deserve. “Absolutely. Tell me you haven’t lost time watching cats slap the shit out of people on the internet. They’re hilarious and relatively low maintenance.”
“For sure. Tell me more, Rowyn.”
“About cats?”
“No,” he chuckles. “You. Give me two truths and a lie.”
Oh, this is always a fun game. “Umm... okay. I’ve gone skydiving twice, I’ve never left the state of Ohio, and my dad is the leader of a biker gang.”
He takes his time answering, letting each of my responses settle into his head as he watches me, and when he finally speaks it looks like he just talked himself out of something. “Nah. The last one isn’t true. Your dad isn’t the leader of a biker gang.”
“He is, actually. Has been for years,” I laugh. “I’ve never been skydiving.”
“Fuck. That was going to be my choice. Damn, so you’ve never left Ohio?”
“Nope. My mom thought if I crossed state lines, I’d never come back. My dad tried to take me once and she called the cops on him for kidnapping.” I shrug, opening another pumpkin. “I’ve been out for a couple of years now but still haven’t gone anywhere. I really don’t know why.”
Good job, Row. Way to be mysterious.
“It’s honestly just more of the same with different backdrops. My dad was in the military when I was a kid so I’ve been around.” He hands me the bag of sour peach rings. “Can you feed me one?”
This time, I slide one of them just over the tip of my pointer finger and hold it to his lips. “Let’s see if youcanbe gentle, hm?”
Smirking, he leans over to wrap his lips around it completely, teeth ghosting along my finger as he slowly slides it off. I only feel his tongue on my skin for the briefest of moments before he’s chomping down right at the tip. “Oops. Forgot to mention I bite.”
Fuck me. Do we really need to go to a haunted house? “Did I forget to mention I like that in a man?”
“You definitely did.”
He pulls into a parking lot, dragging me back to reality like a slap to the face as I realize where we are... and the fact that we absolutely aren’t at a haunted prison. We’re at Red’s.
“Uhm... what are we doing?”
“I’ve been craving this place. Can’t go to a haunted house hungry. Come on, I’ll help you out of the truck.” He hops out before I can respond, and before I know it he’s opening my door and holding out his hands for me. “My treat.”
This definitely wasn’t part of the plan. Haunted house and straight home, no funny business. But I am hungry, and helooks so good right now I don’t think I’m capable of saying no.
Taking his hand, I slide out and land firmly on my feet, way too close to him. It steals my breath. “H-Hi.”
“Hi,” he says back, staring straight into my goddamn soul unabashedly. “This is cute.”
He pokes the little ghost on my hoodie without breaking my gaze, making my heart climb into my throat. “Thanks. You’re pretty cool too.”
“High praise from Rowyn of Rowyn’s Wax. Did you bring me a candle to smell?”
He tugs on one of my curls and presses the small of my back to lead me inside like he doesn’t know how breathless he just made me.
