I haven’t said it yet, but I can feel it happening. I’m falling for him.
* * *
Aiden
As we walk out of the museum, Rose turns to look up at me.
“It’s my turn,” she says, smiling. “I want to take you somewhere.”
I’m surprised. I can’t imagine where it might be, what she might have in mind, but I nod anyway. “All right.”
We get in the car, and Rose directs me, turn after turn. I recognize where we’re going, but it doesn’t click until I pull off the road, parking just beside the underpass.
We used to come here when we were in high school. When it was just the two of us. This is where the spark of our connection became so much more.
Rose takes my hand and we walk beneath the underpass, navigating the cement and grass. It’s the same as it ever was. Time hasn’t moved here, and it feels like walking into the past. I wonder if I could just reach out and stop my younger self, what we’d be like now.
Would we have married after high school? How much more time would we have?
I stop Rose when we’re beneath the underpass, pressing her gently back against the stone wall as I tuck her hair behind her ear.
“We were here, once,” I murmur.
Her eyes are locked on mine. “We were.”
Something heavy and meaningful passes between us, and I lean in closer to Rose to whisper in her ear.
“I’m not just here for this moment, or the next,” I breathe. “I am here for the future, and I want you as long as you’ll have me. Always.”
Rose’s hands curl into the front of my shirt. She tilts her head, and I drop my head to kiss her. It’s slow and deep, filled with all the memories of our past and all the hopes we have for the future. Her lips are soft and warm, and I’m certain I could kiss her like this every day for the rest of my life.
Rose breaks away suddenly, gasping for breath. When she looks up at me, there’s something searching in her gaze.
“How do you always do this to me? How do you know what I need? What I want?”
“Because I know you,” I say simply. “You’re mine.”
Rose’s eyes are locked on mine, shining with something deep and warm. Her small hands grip my shirt, tightening around the fabric as she nods.
“You’re right. I am.”
I pull her way from the wall. I want to stay here, but I know if I do, we’ll end up doing something I don’t want to do right here. The words that just came out of her mouth, the acknowledgement of the connection between us, echo in my mind, making me desperate to get her home so I can fuck her again.
“Come on,” I say, pulling away from her and taking her hand.
She doesn’t resist as I lead her to the car, and I wonder if she feels even a fraction of the urgency and desperation I feel. Already, I’m wondering why we had to leave the underpass, why I couldn’t have just pushed her up against the wall and fucked her there. Never mind that we could’ve been caught and arrested for public indecency.
Right now, it feels like that would’ve been a risk worth taking.
Neither of us speaks as I lead her toward my car. When we reach it, I hold her door open for her, allowing her to slide gracefully into the front passenger seat. Then I walk around to the other side and climb into the driver’s seat.
I slam my door closed, and as soon as it shuts, Rose leans over the center console toward me, her lips seeking mine.
Hmm. So maybe she does feel the same kind of desperation I do.
Satisfaction blazes through me at that thought, but still, I reach up to cup Rose’s delicate face, framing her jaw with my hands as I stop her and hold her in place several inches from my face.
“What are you doing?” she asks, her brows furrowing. “I was just going to—”
