Page 31 of Rewrite Our Story

I take the marigolds from him delicately, not wanting to do anything to jeopardize the petals falling from the stems.

His breath tickles the back of my neck as he leans over me. “They’re probably not the best birthday present now that they’re all messed up.”

I clutch them to my chest, angling my head so I stare into his chestnut eyes. “I love them.”

“So your birthday isn’t ruined?” he jokes.

“I thought it was earlier when you were being a dick.”

Cade swallows, a muscle rippling along his jaw. “I’m not sorry for acting that way. Seeing you with Brendan made me…” His words trail off as he stares out at the pond in front of us.

“Jealous?”

His eyes find mine. “So fucking jealous, Goldie.” He traces my bottom lip with his thumb, watching my lips intently. “The thought of another man touching you, tasting you, is enough to drive me fucking mad.”

“Even if they tried, I’d still be thinking of you.”

He traps my mouth with his. His kiss is dangerous and possessive, something I hadn’t seen from him until today.

When he finally pulls away, both of us are breathless. “Don’t think I won’t act like that again,” he warns, his eyes traveling my face.

“There’s nothing for you to worry about. For me, it’s always been you.”

He seems to accept my answer. He leans back, pulling me along with him.

It feels like second nature when he wraps his arm around me and tucks my head against his chest. Maybe it’s because we’ve spent so many nights in bed with some sort of contact. In fact, all the times I found myself in his bed, I never woke up without some part of us touching.

It always felt meaningful with him—but this feels like so much more. We’ve kissed. He’s admitted that I’m not the only one whose head is spinning from the feelings between us. The contact of our bodies feels like so much more now. Something I didn’t even know was possible.

“Look at the stars with me, Goldie,” Cade whispers.

As I adjust my body, getting comfortable in his warm embrace, I fight the urge to tell him I’d lie here with him forever. I’d count every star to infinity to stay locked in this moment with him.

17

MARE - PRESENT

Light poursthrough the window of my room, stirring me from dreams of the past. I reach across the bed, expecting to find warmth from Cade’s body.

There’s no warmth. My hand brushes over cold, empty sheets. I don’t know why I’d expected to find him here with me this morning. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s gone.

He’d even told me he only needed help taking the pain away in the night. I’m not what he needs to help in the daylight.

It’s the same thing from all those years ago when he took the pain away from me in the night and was responsible for the pain and longing in my heart during the day.

I sigh, turning in the bed to stare up at the ceiling. The orange glow filtering through the drawn curtains tells me that it’s still pretty early in the morning. I always used to be an early riser until after I got my first publishing deal. After that, I learned that my words flow better in the silence of the night. I’d spent many nights in front of my laptop and many days in bed, catching up on just enough sleep to write through the night again.

My phone vibrates on the nightstand. I ignore it. Or at least Itryto. When it rings from the second call, I groan and reach across the bed to grab it.

Just as I expected, I find my agent’s name on the screen. Swiping to answer, I mentally prepare myself for a slew of questions on the current state of my manuscript.

“Hi Rudy,” I say with a sigh.

“Good morning,” he responds cheerfully. He always sounds so cheerful for someone who is constantly giving me lectures. I can’t be too upset with him. He risked taking me on when I was a young debut author. “I was calling to check in on you.”

“On me or the manuscript?”

He scoffs on the other line. “I’m not that cold, Marigold. I know the funeral was yesterday. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

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