Page 78 of Reluctantly You

“Yeah, well, it’s nice as fuck.”

“It is. Except for the random golf balls that end up through my window.”

Mitchell turns to look at me, his eyes sparkling slightly. “That’s what you get for living on a golf course.”

“Indeed.”

We walk in silence, Mitchell’s body drifting toward me every few feet until he’s nearly on top of me. My hand sneaks out and drags across his wrist before our fingers link.

He grunts, his gaze turning down toward where our hands are interlocked but he doesn’t pull away. He just lets us stay connected as we make our way onto the golf cart path that leads slightly into the hills surrounding us. It’s dark now, the purplesand pinks of the sunset fading into darkness. The coyotes will come out soon, howling as they search for food.

But honestly, nothing worries me more than Mitchell pulling his hand away from mine.

“So, tell me something about you,” I say, my voice abnormally loud in the fading light.

“I’m not interesting.”

“You are. In your own way. But tell me something about you that not many know.”

He rolls his lips between his teeth and considers my question for a moment.

“I like art. For a year in high school, I thought about majoring in it.”

My heart stutters at this information. Art? Fucking art? What the hell? That was not at all what I was expecting.

“And why didn’t you go into it?”

“Why do you think?” he asks and his hand leaves mine to rub across his chest.

I fucking hate that the absence of his palm in mine makes me itchy.

“Because of your family?”

“Yeah, because of my parents. My brothers didn’t give a shit. Magnus might have not cared, probably would have supported it, but Max and Matt… Yeah, I didn’t say anything. Just once in passing to my dad and he shut it down. So I never pursued it.”

“You should. Pursue it.”

“Fuck off,” he says, turning his head to stare at the shadows darkening the hills. “Stop being so goddamn nice to me. I hate it. I don’t need it.”

I stop him, pulling him against me with a tug of my hand. His chest meets mine and I cup his cheek roughly, wanting him to hear this.

“I’ve learned that you have to take what you want, Mitchell. You take it and you make no apologies for it.”

He swallows, his gaze sliding down to my moving lips. His tongue peeks out and wets his mouth.

“You do what you want. Life is short. Fuck your dad, fuck your mom. Live for yourself.”

My fingers dig into his cheeks and he lets out a shaky breath.

And then his lips meet mine, just a brush of our mouths before he pulls away and stalks forward.

“Yeah, fuck off, asshole.”

I huff a small laugh and trail after him, my hand sliding against his. I’ll take it. It was small, but I’ll take it.

Chapter Fourteen

Mitch

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