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"I haven’t done so real, Sale back on it now that any of them would have lasted or would make any kind of sense now What I do know is that when I saw you that day you got hired at the shop, it was like walking face-first into a wall, and not only didin my chest felt like it broke loose I don’t know if any of that is good or bad yet, but what I do know is that it feels pretty da I ever felt for your sister I know it all feels less like soood tih I also know feeling all of that scares the living shit out ofdeclaration of love and they weren’t words that put all netic, physical response that we ht out in each other I just needed a e and I told hiure out how I feel about the fact you illing to spend the rest of your life with h for et bored ands It’s easy to run away and much harder to stay"

His eyes darkened to a fathomless turquoise and he took a step back from me "Already been in your rearview once, Salehed and bent to pick up the dog when he whined up at me I rubbed my face in his soft fur and looked at Rowdy over the top of Ji anywhere"

He snorted and turned so that he alking toward the door

"I’ll believe it when I see it" He nodded to where he had left the drawings on my counter "Take a look at those and let me knohat you think"

He had the door open when I called his name: "Rowdy" He looked atI wanted froaze "We started out as friends, ive you tiure out if I can work through your history with Poppy in , silentandIf he said no, if he toldthat easy ca to do I needed to have him in my life but I needed a minute for clarity as well

"I have plenty of friends, Saleet any of them nad or take any of theain--ere That never went away--you did You started this gaure your shit out let ht"

The door closed behind hi after it not sure what to say or how to feel

I was fine on my own In fact I thrived and had made a pretty wonderful life for myself all on my own I wasn’t the type of woman that ever felt like I needed aat the closed door and havingand sensitive from his attention, I suddenly wanted to call hi not only with ht I had always known

I kissed Ji my destroyed shoe and walked over to the counter where Rowdy had left the ies for me to look at I spread thely skilled The sketches looked 3-D and so lifelike that I had to touch one toto lose their raphics put on cute little tank tops and fun T-shirts The gypsy would look awesome on the back of an old-stylestuff in irl’s lovely face that she looked familiar I picked up the picture and held it closer to lasses and I could hardly see

She had long, dark hair She had endless ht eyes She had a heart-shaped mouth with just the hint of a s She was the spitting i was led noise low in ers He was stillabandoned froo With his history of love and loss I couldn’t blame him He didn’t trust that I was here for the duration, that he was enough to keep me rooted in Denver He was leery and kind of harsh, but even in all of that he still sawso beautiful it almost hurt me to look at it

It made me want to cry, mostly because as much as I loved the picture, loved the way he viewed , was that how he still saw Poppy as well?

Crap This ga out to be way trickier than I had anticipated

CHAPTER 7

Rowdy

NOW THAT THE TABLES had turned and Sale looks and running the other hen I crowded her, I saw just how annoying and frustrating itit to her I took every opportunity that presented itself to touch her, to be near her, to crowd her and press in on her I was the one treating her like prey and she was looking back at hts with those deep, dark eyes

I knew so to have to happen one way or another between the two of us Either she was going to get over all that nonsense in her head about Poppy and letto decide it was all too much and notall her life I wasn’t sure which outco for since both had pros and cons

On one hand I wanted to get nad with her, tangle myself all up with her in all the raunchiest and dirtiest ways I could think of, but I didn’t want to have sex with her and then have her pull up stakes and leaveif I ever ended up in bed with Salem, it would mean an end towith her, not considering how strongly I still reacted to her after a decade of no contact between the two of us As a result I think subconsciously I was pushing her, trying tothat’s what she wasto do It was her pattern I was just trying to speed the process up before I could get any more invested in her and the fact I wanted her so bad I could taste it The thing was, no ot to her physically, she never toldlook, like she knew all the plays before they were called out and already had a defensive strategy in mind to counteract them