Page 19 of The Sun & Her Burn

The idea of soulmates was so romantic until you realized that there might be one—or two people—meant for you, but you might not be meant for them in return.

There was someone out there for Linnea who could love her without ghosts interfering with the level of worship she deserved.

So I squeezed her foot, then set it down beside me.

“Adam wouldn’t want to see me,” I repeated. “Just trust me on that.”

“Because you had an affair with his wife?”

I startled so badly, I almost slipped into the ocean. When I recovered, I looked up to see her watching me with those purple eyes, wide and knowing.

She shrugged. “Miranda would talk about it on the phone with Bobbi and Savannah. I don’t think Savannah ever confirmed it, but it seemed like an open secret between them. The lady and the driver. Miranda used to have a laugh about it.”

Linnea rolled her eyes at that, then nudged me in the side with her foot.

“Don’t look so scandalized, Sebastian. You’re the one who had the affair, not me.”

I was startled into chuckling, shaking my head at her. “You never mentioned it back then.”

“Neither did you,” she countered with a raised brow. “I was always curious, but you seemed so much older and wiser than me even though you were only three and a half years older. I didn’t want to scare you off.”

“Never,” I said solemnly, tugging on her big toe. “I mean that, Linnea.”

“I get that now,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “But sixteen-year-old gawky and awkward Linnea did not.”

“You are certainly not gawky any longer,” I quipped.

Her grin was wide and wicked, a knowing gleam in her eyes as she reached up to cup the underside of her breasts. “Karma for being a late bloomer, I think.”

I laughed again, undone by her candor. “You can ask, now. If you’d like. I cannot promise to answer everything, though.”

“Was it an affair, then? I wouldn’t blame you. Savannah has always had this…aura about her. A regality that makes her desirable and unattainable at the same time. The two of you would have made sense together.”

I hadn’t spoken about the Meyerses in so long that for a moment, I wasn’t sure I could find the words even though I yearned for the catharsis.

“I had a close friendship with Savannah,” I confessed. “I fell in love with her before I even truly knew her. I’m not sure you could call it an affair because Adam knew about it.”And participated freely, I thought but did not say. It wasn’t that I distrusted Linnea, but in light of the gossip swirling about him already, I didn’t want to take the chance when I didn’t have to. “We were friends, too, though. I loved him in my own way, and I was devastated when they chose to let me go.”

“You miss them,” she said, a little surprised. “I can hear it in your voice.”

I shrugged one shoulder and scrubbed a hand through my wet hair. “Yes. Nearly every day. Savannah was Savannah, but Adam was the best mate I ever had.”

“You should call him,” she declared. “Really, Seb, what is there to lose? Worst-case scenario, he doesn’t answer or he tells you to fuck off, but you’re alreadythere. Best case, he’s grateful you reached out when so many others are probably scattering like locusts in the face of tabloid gossip. Best case, he misses you, too.”

He misses you, too.

The idea of that made my stomach clench so hard, I thought I might vomit.

It seemed wildly outlandish, but I couldn’t stop a kernel of hope from taking root in the fallow field of my heart.

“Maybe you can understand what he’s going through,” she continued. “Honestly, I was pissed when I opened the door to you this morning, but I feel kind of…relieved now that you know about Miranda.”

“I could help you, you know,” I murmured. “If you’d let me. I would love to do it.”

Her fierce scowl was instantaneous. “Do you mean like a handout? Don’t insult me, Seb. I won’t take your money.”

“You’re working as a server, going to auditions, and trying to work on your designs, all while taking care of your mother,” I countered passionately. “You do not have time to breathe, and you are only twenty-six. You deserve some peace.”

“You call metrottolinafor a reason. I don’t yearn for peace,” she argued, eyes flashing, chin tipped pugnaciously. “I yearn for love, and success, and adventure. I’m willing to work hard to earn it all.”