My eyes drop to his arm. His flowers. I trace my finger over the petals. “So you were hiding in the tree from your parents.”
“Yes,” he says as his fingers trail down my neck and to the exposed skin where my pajama top has gaped open over my shoulder. His touch grazes my book tattoo and I feel the smile in his fingertip. “So does that answer all your questions, Miss Inquisitive?”
“Not yet.”
He groans.
“Tell me about your brother. What’s he like? Is he antirelationship too?”
“My brother used to feel like I do. Against the entire idea of marriage and like we’re better off without it…until recently.”
“What happened recently?”
“He met someone and just got engaged.” He pauses, and we only stare at each other for a minute—unspoken thoughts and feelings running like currents through the air. “I’ve been avoiding his calls because I can’t bring myself to tell him I’m happy for him. Does that make me the shittiest brother in the world?”
“No. I think it means you have a lot of hurt still, and I’m willing to bet he probably understands.”
Will grins and pushes a piece of my hair back from my face. “You see too much good in me, Annie. There’s a very real possibility, you know, that I am just a very selfish asshole who uses women and lives according to my own whims just because I like life better that way.”
I hum lightly and close my eyes, feeling exhaustion press over me again. “That’s what you’d like me and everyone else to think.”
Suddenly I feel Will’s thumb trace my lower lip. “It’s time to take off those rose-colored glasses, sunshine.”
I tuck my chin and snuggle in closer to his stomach because he gave me permission and also because it feels so nice to do this. To just be close to someone and gain the affection I’ve been craving for so long without any pressure or fear of him not being the right one for me. “Not a chance. I love how pretty the world looks with them. You’re a good guy, Will—I really hope you know that.”
“Harriet would disagree. She thought I was making meth with your cold medicine.”
I begin to doze in this lazy comfort. “It’s the tattoos. She’s always hated them. You should have seen how mad she got when she found out that Noah has a tattoo. Wouldn’t let him buy anything besides vegetables from the market for a week.”
“And what do you think about my tattoos now that you’ve really seen them?” he says, running the back of his knuckles against my jaw and hair. I’ve never been more comfortable with anyone in my entire life.
“I think they’re not nearly as interesting as the man they’re on. And that I’ve never felt safer with anyone than I do with you.”
I feel his breath against my face as he lets out a deep sigh. “Annie. What are we doing?” he asks more to himself than me.
I don’t answer. Instead, I slip into a deep sleep, and wake up hours later in the middle of the night, curled up next to Will’s side in my bed. He didn’t leave. And I’m terrified when I realize I hope he never does.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Will
“You’re so freaked-out to wake up with me again,” Annie says, eyeing me when I thought she was sleeping. I’ve been awake, staring at the ceiling for the last twenty minutes and reevaluating all of my life choices. And the text message I read when I first woke up.
“A little, yeah.”
“You should be. I already called the pastor, and he’s on his way to marry us immediately.” Even though I know she’s joking, my stomach dips and tightens. Unfortunately, not out of fear.
Annie sits up, hair cascading down over her shoulder, and props her chin on my chest. “Would it help if I tell you I’m not after you?” Her voice is still hoarse and her nose is stuffy, but she sounds much better than yesterday. I want to make her tea with honey.
I frown—and lie. “Yes. Is that true? Because last night felt…meaningful between us, and meaningful scares the shit out of me.”
“I know.”
“And then I slept over here again even though I have a very strict no-sleeping-over policy—and I’m spiraling out.”
Her full pink lips curve into a delicate smile. Damn, she’s gorgeous. Even puffy eyed and a little bloodshot. “I think what happened to us last night was friendship, which also might freak you out.”
“It absolutely does.”
“Why?”