Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
We. Jesus Christ. Daisy was his twin.
“Rowe…” Not for one second did I doubt that he was telling the truth. Liar he might be, but the raw ache in his voice was unmistakable. I reached out to run a finger over his wrist, just a light touch because I couldn’t resist connecting with him physically to make sure he knew I cared. To make sure he knew I heard him deep inside.
Rowe’s voice shook as he continued. “We’d always been a team. The Prince twins, taking on the world. But Daisy was the brave one. The one with all the plans to save the environment, to achieve world peace somehow, to find true love. The one who’d pull me away from my sketchbooks and make me join the three-dimensional world again. After she died, I was… alone. And I didn’t know how to navigate life when the best part of me was gone.”
“That’s not true. Fuck, Rowe, I’m so sorry you went through that, but you’re wrong—”
He smiled a little. “I know. Or, more like, I figured it out eventually. One day after a counseling session, I was sitting outside, and this voice in my head that sounded exactly like my sister said, ‘Listen up, dork face. If part of you died with me, part of me lives with you. So stop wasting our time and do something.’ She always used to talk like that, you know? Wasting time, running out of it. Like she somehow knew she wouldn’t have much.”
I tugged on his arm until I had his hand safely gripped between both of mine once again. I wanted to take him in my arms, but I wasn’t sure he’d welcome that. So many facts I’d accumulated about this man slotted into place. The things he’d said to Constance at the gala. Even the things he’d said to the horse back at the barn. Rowe had been crushed by the shitty hand life dealt him—just like Dev had, just like Silas had—but now he was using that loss to propel himself toward something better. To take his idea, whatever it was, and make it a reality.
He let out a shaky breath. “So I got off my ass. I got out the sketchbook I use for design ideas, and I started hatching ideas for this project instead. And when I tell you I had no idea what I was doing, I mean if I’d set out to learn rocket science in Russian, it might have been easier. I had to research the fuck out of things, and teach myself technical shit that still seems over my head sometimes, and be brave enough to ask for help. And once I got it to the point where I thought it could really be something good and useful, something that would help people like Daisy, I saved up my pennies and came to New York—”
“And then put on a tux and went to a gala.” I nodded. “I get it now.”
“I couldn’t not try, Bash. And I can’t fail. I don’t want to let Daisy down.”
The shell around my own heart cracked.
“I didn’t set out to lie. Not really. I mean, not beyond getting into the gala,” Rowe continued in a rush. “Just find Justin, beg him for a meeting, and leave. And if it had worked out like that, maybe the whole stolen-invite thing would just be a funny story I’d tell at parties.” He scrubbed at his eyes with his free hand. “I mean, if you do something reckless and get caught, people call you a fool. If you do something reckless and succeed, they call you daring and brave. Right?”
I huffed out a laugh. “You might have a point.”
“But anyway, Justin wasn’t there, and you were, and you noticed me, and…” Rowe shook his head and stared at our joined hands. “Well, that’s the second reason I didn’t tell you the truth right away.”
“Because I noticed you?” I wrinkled my forehead. “I don’t get it.”
“Ugh.” He tugged on his hand, but I wouldn’t let him go. “You gave me that smile. You were so kind, no matter how ridiculous I was. You did the eyebrow thing that made me go all hot. You made me laugh, even when laughing was the last thing I wanted to do. You brought me those damn prosciutto bites. And it felt like you were on my… my team, Bash, when I hadn’t had a team in forever. I was caught up,” he whispered. “Caught up tight. And if I told you the truth, all of that would have gone away. Poof. So I was Cinderella, telling myself just one more dance, just one more, just one, before I re-pumpkin-ated.”
I sucked in a breath through my nose.
By the time he finished this diatribe, Rowe was breathless, his hair was a curly mess from where he’d run his hand through it, and he looked on the verge of tears.