Page 565 of Rock Me All Night
"Oh."
"Fuck, I'm glad I get to help you become a lawyer." He meets my gaze, his eyes brimming with affection. "You deserve the fucking world, Jess. Wish I could offer you more than this."
My heart sinks. He's being so sweet telling me he'll never really love me.
Everything is heavy. The air is colder, the sun is dimmer. He's never going to love me. He's never going to be my boyfriend.
How is that possible? The way he's staring at me, I'm sure he cares about me.
I try to push it out of my head but it won't go. How can he tell me I deserve the world in one breath then tell me he'll never love me in the next?
His arm slides around my shoulders. "You're like Katniss, trying to shoulder a whole fucking revolution."
"Are you talkingHunger Gameswith me?"
He nods.
"You can't do that, Pete. You're gonna make me fall in love with you."
"That's all it takes?"
"When it's you."
"Jess, I… I'm not gonna want a relationship."
"I know."
"And you're okay with that?"
I nod a yes, but I'm not sure I mean it.
* * *
After brunch, we spend an hour walking around the outdoor shopping center. For the most part, people leave us alone. Either Pete is infinitely less recognizable in sunglasses or people really are used to seeing celebrities everywhere.
I forget all about what it is we're supposed to be doing and enjoy soaking in the afternoon with him. We browse the aisles of an independent bookstore. He picks books from the Young Adult shelf, skips to random passages, then asks me to deem the books as read-worthy or not. I do the same with the science fiction shelf. Despite my insistence that both of us read exclusively on our e-readers, he buys every book that makes it into our stack.
We sit at an outdoor cafe, sipping iced drinks and leafing through our new reading material.
I don't notice the day passing until my stomach grumbles. The sun is streaked with orange. It's already evening. Damn, it's easy being with him. I haven't thought about anything since brunch.
"You hungry?" he asks.
I nod.
"There's a great restaurant at this hotel in the hills. Don't usually go 'cause it's such a scene."
* * *
Pete leadsme through the lush lobby. The restaurant is off to the left. Its gold signs make it look expensive.
He nods to a guarded pool to the right. "Should we crash?"
"We can't."
He slides his arm around my waist, pulling my body into his. "Want to bet?"
"No. I'm sure you can figure something out."
