AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe he’s tired from the fishing trip?
I stall in my room, waiting to hear his door open. Each time I glance at the shared door between our rooms, I sigh. It’s ridiculous how eager I am to see him, but I can’t help it.
He’s there soon enough, knocking on my door. It has to be him. I rush up to open the door to my room, and he enters without a word. Strange. He came straight to me instead of coming through the shared door. I view it as a good thing, that he was equally impatient to see me that he didn’t want the delay of entering his room, then mine.
“Hey,” I say brightly as he closes the door and locks it.
I can’t help but remember how he reminded me when we hadn’t shared a bed. We have now, at the hotel, but we haven’t been together like that at the Goldfinch yet. My body reacts to his presence—alone—in my room, but I try to ignore my need for him. We need to talk first.
“We need to talk,” he says as he takes my hand.
I giggle.
He furrows his brow. “What’s so funny?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.” I sit, tugging him to lower down next to me on the edge of the bed. “Go ahead. Wait. Let me guess. You broke the state record for catching a monster fish.”
He rolls his eyes and tries not to smile. “No.”
“Okay, then what is it?” He seems tense, and I try not to dwell on him saying something awful. I’m not sure if he’s aware of it, but he’s already threaded his fingers with mine, unable to let me go as he strokes his thumb over my knuckles. He can’t be in the mood to split from me if he’s touching me like this.
He opens and closes his mouth, hesitant. I know he is. He always is. Dalton’s quiet, so it makes it all the more worth it when he does speak up. “I want you.”
I blink. Then blink some more. When I raise my brows and look down at the bed, he sighs.
“Not now.”
Again, I can’t stop blinking in surprise.
“I mean. I do. I always do.” He taps the bed. “But that’s not why I came in here to talk.”
“Okay…”
“I really like you, Aubrey,” he amends softly.
I smile, wanting to bask in the glow of his words. He truly means them.
“But I don’t understand your hesitation with me.”
I point at my chest. “My hesitation?”
“You said it. You said we were just hooking up. Just for fun.”
It’s my turn to open and close my mouth, unsure how to vocalize what I mean.
“When we met, sure, it felt like a fling. I’ve been attracted to you from the beginning, and we mesh well. We fit.”
Literally. My cheeks go hot.
“But as I get to know you, I want to know more. And as I spend more time with you, I wonder why you hold back. Why you won’t tell me what you think this is between us. I fall asleep desperate to know why you’re so resistant to considering something more than hooking up with me just for some vacation fun.”
He’s putting me on the spot, and I feel flustered and cornered. I’ve been pep-talking myself to tell him how I feel, but now that he’s proverbially thrusting the mic in my face and asking for an answer, I clam up.
“Well, we are on vacation.” I rub the back of my neck, hating the burn of nerves tingling on my skin. “Or were. I know you’re going back to New York next week.”
“No.” He turns, facing me more. “That’s not an answer, Aubrey.”
“I’m just…” Oh, crap. I feel so vulnerable, taking this leap. “I…”
