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“Hmm.” I smoothed a thumb over her lips. I was fucking obsessed with her mouth. “You like being chased, Red?”

“Why? Are you going to chase me again?”

My thumb pulled at her bottom lip until her teeth were bared and I smiled at how easily she let me handle her. “Never without your consent.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I won’t do an actual chase scene without your consent. Just like everything else, it has to be because you want it.”

Interest flickered in her eyes before she leaned into my touch. “Hi, Greyson.”

“Hey, True.” I caressed her cheek, loving the way her skin felt against my palm.

“Do you know how to get us back home?”

Any remaining frustration left my body at her needing me. I nodded. “Yea. Come on, Red.”

When we got back to her house, she tossed her notebook on her desk and rushed to get to the shower.

“Don’t forget to pack your laptop and leave it at our place.”

She paused outside her bathroom and raised a brow at me. “Why?”

“Because you’re sleeping in one of our beds tonight and I don’t want you to have the sudden urge to flee in the middle of the night.”

True rolled her eyes at me and closed the door to shower. I went to grab her laptop from her desk. Just in case.

To: Promise

What the fuck was that? And why did I like it?

Saturday was…a lot.

Between driving back and forth to Charlotte, running into my mom, giving True her desk, and everything we’d done after…my mind was still trying to catch up with the good and not focus on the lingering shame working through me.

It would never not fuck with me how an isolated interaction could crowd out the other things in my head until it was all I could focus on.

Being on this date with True was helping, though.

She got to tell me about all the writing she’d done yesterday and today, and I got to hear her voice. True could read me the phone book and I’d ask follow up questions. She madeeverything sound like something I needed to know. I had zero shame about the way I hung on her every word.

“So,” she exhaled, dropping her paint brush to pick up her glass of wine. “I don’t know how many of those words I’ll be keeping but I’m just happy Iwantto write again, you know? It was shaky for a while.”

“I’m happy for you, Red.” My response held a note of panic I hoped she didn’t hear. Iwashappy for her. But the more she talked about writing her book, the more it forced me to remember Bliss Peak wasn’t her home.

Cleaning my brush, I saw her place her wine glass back on the table and give me her full attention.

“My original deadline was December 31st. But I’m moving it to the end of January. That gives me two and a half more months to finish my first draft.”

Two and a half months for me to get my shit together and remember maybe this wasn’t forever and that I should still enjoy it.

“Hmm. I’m missing something. I need more yellow…” she trailed, looking over her painting with narrowed eyes. Then she added offhandedly, “It was wild making my birthday my deadline anyway.”

“You’re a New Year’s Eve baby, True?”

Her lip twitched. “Mhm.”

I filed that information away and caught my lip between my teeth when she sat forward, pushing the deep v-cut of her sweater further into my line of sight.