That One Night (Jacksonville Rays, #0.5)

by Emily Rath

“You believe in signs,” I repeat. She nods. “Yeah, I do. And right now, all signs point to me taking you down to my room and fucking your brains out.”

“Were you afraid you’d lose me to a real man?” I murmur. “Not a chance, gorgeous,” he replies. “You’ve got all the man you need right here.”

“You’re a lost boy, remember? You’re meant to be finding me.”

Of course, my perfect girl likes to play. I bet she’s got more kinks than a garden hose.

That truth settles between us. We know each other. Not in any real sense, obviously. We’re two nameless strangers. But we know each other all the same. Sometimes people enter your life and it’s a meeting. But sometimes, it’s a meeting again. Déjà vu. Soul recognition. Whatever it is, we have it.

“I’ve always loved storms,” she murmurs, her hands resting on my forearms. “The complexity, the power. Its nature showing herself to us. We dare to cage her in, but storms are her way of showing us the truth. She is limitless.”

I want more of him, and I don’t just mean sex. One more day wouldn’t be enough. One week wouldn’t be enough. I know with a surety marrow-deep that he’s an addiction I’d never be able to break.

Whatever this is between us, he’s not going to be the one to walk away first. It has to be me.

poem by Rumi: “The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere, they’re in each other all along.”