Page 13 of Falling Too Soon (Seasons of Love #1)

DAPHNE

F ucking Marcus. Seriously, fuck him. It had taken me months to build up the confidence to leave him finally, and now he won’t leave me alone.

Nathan and I had a great day exploring the town.

Our friendship, or whatever the hell it was, was so light and fun.

I don’t think I’d smiled that much in months, maybe in years.

I truly had the best time. I had even temporarily forgotten about Marcus and my mess of a life.

When we got back to the cabin, we went to our separate rooms. I hated to admit it, but hearing from Marcus again had shaken me, and my head was all over the place. I knew Marcus was a dickhead, but his messages were messing with my mind and I was, suddenly, exhausted.

I must have fallen asleep because some time later, I was in bed, waking up to the sun setting.

Oopsie.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched. The smell of something delicious drew me out of bed and to the kitchen.

Does this freaking man cook too? Goddammit.

When I emerged from the bedroom, the broad lines of Nathan’s back greeted me.

Nathan’s naked back. He was facing away from me, tending to something on the stove, so I took the opportunity to truly appreciate his form.

My eyes traveled from his strong, muscular shoulders and back, down his tapered waist, and landed longingly on his tight ass, cloaked in yet another pair of goddamned gray sweatpants.

I was staring at his ass like I was starving and he was going to be my last meal.

I think I may have been drooling when I heard his throat clear. My eyes shot up to his.

Busted .

“Excuse me, ma’am, but my eyes are up here,” he said with a smirk as he pointed two fingers at his eyes.

I covered my face with my hands. “Oh my God, stop it,” I snorted. “But seriously, didn’t we just have this conversation? Where’s your freaking shirt?” I pointed at his naked chest.

He laughed. God, that laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry, so it’s my fault that you were ogling me? You know I’m not a piece of meat, Daphne.”

“I was not ogling you!” My cheeks flamed with embarrassment.

“Okay, okay, you know I’m just messing with you.

I’ll go cover myself so you can stop malfunctioning,” he chuckled as he headed off to his room.

I circled the island to get myself a glass of water.

I was guzzling down my second glass when Nathan reappeared, wearing yet another fitted tee that did nothing to hide the shape of him.

Great.

I did my best to compose myself. Unfortunately, my best wasn’t good enough, and I kept thinking about last night.

I don’t know if I’ve ever come that hard or that many times with any other partner, and I wanted a repeat.

Even thinking about it was a mistake, though.

I wasn’t ready for a relationship, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could fall hard and fast for this guy if I weren’t careful.

Get it together, Daphne. “So whatcha making?”

“Hope you’re hungry. I’m making chicken parm—it’s my mom’s recipe.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. Italian food was my love language.

“Oh, that sounds good, and it smells amazing!” I sat at the island while Nathan opened a bottle of wine. He poured two glasses and offered me one that I gratefully accepted.

He turned back to his task at hand. “So, is everything okay? You looked upset before you disappeared earlier.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. My ex is making me question my sanity at the moment,” I confessed.

Why was he so easy to talk to? I wouldn’t ordinarily confide these feelings to a stranger.

“That was his MO throughout our entire relationship. He gaslit the shit out of me and made me think I was wrong, or that I was going crazy. It’s exhausting. ”

“Shit, I’m so sorry, Daphne.” He turned to look at me with a sad smile.

I didn’t want his pity and I sure as shit didn’t need to be pouring my heart out to him.

Sure, we shared a night of hot as fuck sex, but he was still basically a stranger, and I had to remember that.

“It’s fine, really. I don’t want to talk about it,” I said as I gulped down a healthy serving of my wine.

“Let’s talk about something else. Did you get any work done today after we got back? ”

He eyed me as if he wanted to pry a little more, but thankfully dropped it. “Yeah, a little. I was a little distracted myself.” His face twisted. “Seems my ex saw a picture of us in town together today, and she was less than thrilled.”

My jaw dropped, and I blinked rapidly. “Um, what in the fresh hell? How? When? Who?” I stammered over my words and then took another gulp of wine.

His hand tugged on the back of his neck as he grimaced, “Yeah, so I guess someone recognized me in town and snapped a pic of us. They posted it to their socials and tagged me. Courtney saw it and kind of freaked out.”

I quickly pulled out my phone and searched for him online. Yep, there it was, a photo of us looking like we were fucking together. It was taken moments before we entered the bookshop, and it looked like an intimate moment between lovers.

“Well, that doesn’t look good,” I winced. “But why is she so mad? I thought she cheated on you, and that’s why you ended things. I don’t think she’s got much room to talk.”

“She’s upset because she thinks I moved on too quickly. Whatever. I didn’t respond to her. I know it’s probably not the most mature reaction, but I don’t owe her an explanation. ”

Just then, my phone chimed with an incoming message. “Looks like the cat’s outta the bag on my end too,” I laughed as I read the incoming message from Lexi.

Lexi

Bitch—have you seen this???

She attached a screenshot of the social media post we were just talking about. I ignored the message. I didn’t want to deal with it right now.

“Lexi sent that pic to me too. I guess it’s getting around.” I took another long pull from my wine glass as Nathan rounded the island to top off my drink.

I set my glass down, put my forehead on the island, and groaned.

I hadn’t told my parents Marcus, and I had broken up yet.

They were gonna freak if they saw this. I was hoping for a fun little solo vacay to relax before dealing with that conversation.

My parents loved Marcus, or at least they loved the version of him he presented to them.

I hadn’t confided in them how bad things had gotten.

The truth was, I was embarrassed that I had let it go on for as long as I did.

I exhaled a long breath and looked up at a concerned Nathan, who was next to me now with his hand resting on my back.

I blinked away the moisture gathering in my eyes.

Fuck, why was I so emotional? It all felt like too much.

I just wanted more time before talking to my parents and seeing the disappointment in their eyes.

I knew I was right to leave him, but explaining why I left and how long I stayed with him despite those reasons felt overwhelming .

“It’s going to be okay,” Nathan said as he slowly rubbed my back, calming me slightly.

“I know, but I haven’t even told my parents about Marcus and me…

I thought it could wait until I got home.

” Home . Shit, I still didn’t have a home when I got back.

“Ya know what? It’s going to be fine, and I’m not dealing with this now,” I laughed.

Humor was my go-to coping mechanism, and while this wasn’t exactly funny, it was a laugh-or-cry situation, and I’ll be damned if I was going to turn into a puddle in front of this man.

Warily, Nathan started back toward the stove.

“Okay, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.

But just know we’re in this together now, so if you do want to talk or need anything, I’m here for you.

” Swoon. Nathan was so understanding and easy-going.

I felt as though I could talk to him and tell him why I was upset, but I was still being cautious.

“I appreciate that. I do. I want to live in avoidance for a bit longer, if that’s all right?” I chuckled. “But I’m starving, and I cannot wait to dig into this. It smells so freaking good.”

“Want to eat by the fire? We can throw on another scary movie if you want to,” he said as he plated our dinner.

“That sounds great, actually. Scary movies and Italian food? Be still, my heart,” I joked while clutching my chest as I turned to the living room. “I’ll find something to put on.”