A large part of me worries it’ll be like this from now on. Will I leave Rome and my attention will be torn between where I am and wondering what the hell Annie’s doing? This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’m not supposed to feel things. I never have before.
Unhelpfully, my brother’s words fly through my head: “I’m helpless to do anything else.” Is this what he was talking about? This intense magnetism my body has for hers? Surely it’s just desire, and if we were to finally have sex it would go away. Right?
But what if it’s not? And what if I chewed my brother out for the very thing I’m starting to feel about Annie?
“Plus this is probably the only time you’ll get to see Annie for a few days,” Amelia adds like she’s removing an ace from her sleeve and tossing it on the table. She has a smug expression when I look down at her.
“Why?”
“We’re going to L.A. tomorrow for three days because I’ve been booked for a few television interviews. I was going to tell you on the way back, but I figured I should tell you now because—”
We’re interrupted by none other than the approach of backpack guy. I immediately step around Amelia, intercepting his approach. “Can I help you?”
He has nervous eyes, darting back and forth between Amelia behind me and my reflective glasses. I set my jaw and square my shoulders, reading his body language, and mentally mapping eight different ways I can take him down if necessary. “S-sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could get a picture—”
“She’s not available for photos today,” I say, cutting him off with finality.
He smiles shyly. “No…sorry. I didn’t mean with her. I meant with you. I saw the BuzzFeed article, and I’m a huge fan of…well, your face.” He blushes.
Behind me I hear Amelia stifle a laugh.
Well, this is unexpected.
“Thank you, I’m flattered, but I have to decline. Have a nice day.”
“I understand.” He turns to walk away and then whirls around briefly. “Can I just take a candid one from a distance?”
Amelia peeks around me. “Yes, but please only photograph him from the left because that’s his good side. Gotta have the tattoos in the picture.”
I turn a slow glare down at Amelia. She laughs. Dude takes this moment to snap a picture and then scurries off.
“If I weren’t tasked to protect you right now…”
Amelia gives me a smile that’s the equivalent of the little yellow smiley emoji baring all its teeth. “Now that the major threat is neutralized, it looks like you can say hi to Annie.”
I inhale in a long slow breath through my nose and turn my body toward the crowd again. “You gotta knock it off with the matchmaking, Amelia. You’re just going to be disappointed. And besides,” I say, scanning from the west to south entrances, “three days is nothing. Definitely not enough to make me compromise your safety by needing to talk to her before we go.”
But it is enough to have me sneaking out of Mabel’s Inn after dark that night and driving to Annie’s house—leaving my truck on a side road and then cutting across lawns to get to her window.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Annie
A light tap sounds against my window. At first I think it’s a bug trying to get in, but then it happens again and again, growing a little louder each time. I go to the window and peek through the curtains, and then smother a scream with my hand. There’s a man outside my window. But then I register the blue-gray eyes and the dark brows and the tattooed hand as he raises a finger to his lips. It’s William Griffin.
Why is he outside my window at ten o’clock at night? Even worse, I’m all snug in my banana-print pajamas. He can’t see me like this. It doesn’t seem like I have a choice, though.
Quietly I unlatch the window and raise it. The sound of crickets, the feel of the humid summer night, and the dangerous smile aimed at me all combine to make sure this becomes the strongest core memory of my life.
“Hi,” Will says in little more than a whisper. “Can I come in?” He asks this like he’s standing at my front door—perfectly normal. Allow me to take your hat and coat, sir.
“Um, yeah, of course, come on in.” I step back and watch in awe as he easily drops a leg over the windowsill, folds his tall frame, and ducks his head under the window. He maneuvers the rest of his body through until he’s here, standing in my room with me.
“I remember that being easier when I was sixteen.”