LOGINThe words landed hard because part of me—a not-small part—wondered isn’t that was exactly what both of them were doing. If I was just a different kind of acquisition to Julian and a mistake Sebastian wanted to correct, and neither one of them actually saw me as a person making my own choices. I loo
She turned to Sebastian and her smile gained teeth. “And one for you too, Hawthorne. Try not to break the glass, okay? We’re running low on dishes and I’d hate for you to cut yourself on the shards when you inevitably squeeze it too hard.” Sebastian took the glass without thanking her. His eyes nev
Dahlia Julian picked up the first seedling, examining its root. “These are beautiful specimens. The nursery did excellent work.” “They did,” Sebastian agreed coldly. “Though I’m curious how you knew which varieties to order.” “Dahlia mentioned them at dinner.” Julian glanced at me with a smile t
Dahlia The air between us suddenly felt too charged. Too warm. Too close. Too occupied. Like something had stepped into the space between us and refused to leave. I opened my mouth but the sound of tires on gravel saved me from responding. We both turned. An expensive car was pulling up the dri
Dahlia “I didn’t ask who sent them—” “Of course he did.” River set the tray down harder than necessary, the plastic snapping lightly against the table. “Because that’s what Julian does.” Rain dragged a chair over with his foot, turned it backward, and dropped into it like he planned on staying fo
“Dahlia.” I looked up. Sienna was walking toward me from the driveway, coffee in one hand, her other hand shading her eyes from the early sun. She looked different this morning. Lighter, somehow. Like someone had finally taken weight off her shoulders she’d been carrying. It’s the weekend so sh







