Page 64 of On the Rocks

I swallowed past the thick knot in my throat, visions of my own parents flooding my mind. And it wasn’t lost on me that in her vision, she didn’t mentionAnthony, specifically.

“What else?” I asked.

She smiled wider. “We’d have a dog — a big one. One that would slobber everywhere and knock our toddlers down when he played with them. And our house would be country, but not like theclassicsouthern style. It’d be eclectic, with art from all over the world, and bright colors and funky designs.”

The more she talked, the more she lit up.

“I think I’d like a big entertaining space in the back yard, a place to host parties and barbecues, and I’d want a little vegetable garden that I could grow my own tomatoes and squash.” She paused, her smile falling a little. “And I’d have a charity, one that supported something I cared about… maybe earth conservation, or education in rural locations, or quality of life for senior citizens, or mental illness support for our veterans. A way to give back. A way to save someone…”

I smirked. “I bet it’d be the most efficiently run charity in the world. Probably the most well-known, too.”

She rolled onto her side. “Why do you say that?”

“Because it’s you.”

She watched me for a long moment, like she was waiting for me to continue, but I didn’t feel the need. That was all there was to say. It was her, Ruby Grace, and we both knew that anything she set her mind to, she’d not only achieve it — she’d break records, too.

“Noah?” she whispered.

“Mm?”

“Can I say something… and you not ask questions when I do?”

I considered it, curiosity overpowering any hesitation I had. “Okay.”

Ruby Grace sat up, then, sitting on her knees as she tucked her hair behind both ears. Those kneecaps brushed the tops of my thighs where I was lying on my side in front of her, nothing between us but a half-empty container of strawberries and two bottles of water.

She chewed her cheek, like she wasn’t sure what to say or how to say it, and her eyes watched her hand — the one braced on the blanket just a few inches from mine.

“I don’t know if this is stupid or… I don’t know, pointless to say, but…” She blew out a breath, lifting her eyes to mine. “Thank you, for talking to me, for being my friend when you didn’t have to be.” Her brows bent together, a shade of pink tinging her cheeks. “I never feel more like myrealself than I do when I’m with you.”

My next breath lodged somewhere in my throat, stuck and swelling with every new inhale I tried to take. Her words broke me as much as they filled me with longing and hope. It should be Anthony she felt most like herself with, since he was the man responsible for the diamond glittering on her finger.

But it was me.

Her eyes searched mine, her body leaning forward, down, toward mine. She was so slight that even on her knees, we were nearly face to face with my head propped up on one elbow. The closer she got, the more I saw the strawberry juice stained on her lips, smelled the sweet scent of her breath as her lips parted, saw the sunburst in her hazel eyes under the glow of the sun.

I knew in that moment that all I had to do was move toward her even aninch, and I could kiss her. I knew that if I reached out a hand, wrapped my fingers up in her red hair and pulled her into me, she would submit.

But I didn’t.

Icouldn’t.

I’d promised her — just friends. And I would respect those boundaries until the day she didn’t belong to another man.

Until the day she was actually mine.

“We should go,” I whispered with her mouth inches from mine, her lids fluttering shut.

She popped them back open, blinking several times before she pulled back, clearing her throat on a nervous nod of acknowledgement. “Yeah. Yeah, we probably should.”

But before she could stand, I reached out, covering her hand with mine.

I smoothed the pad of my thumb over her wrist, the smooth palm of her hand, the shiny skin over her knuckles. I hoped the touch would say everything I couldn’t.

I feel the same way.

I want you, too.