Page 87 of Dream House
But I have missed Stella.
“You’ve been busy lately.” I speak softly, but with the harpistry coming from the speaker, I know only Stella can hear me.
Stella doesn't look up from the crow eye she’s outlining. “I guess,” she says with a half-shrug.
Before today, her distancing felt like a blast of icy wind. Now, a wave of tenderness washes over me.
I want to make this easier for her.
“Stella?”
Saying her name feels like breathing crisp air. She looks up at me, startled. The green of her eyes is a place I want to emigrate to. I let myself hold her gaze a moment. And then I swallow and give what I’m allowed to give.
“We’re friends, right?”
She blinks, and I know this isn’t what she expected. “O-Of course.” But she says it too quickly.
“Because if we’re not—” I look down and drag the blade of my knife around a wing tip, “I’d like to be.”
I meet her eyes again and see hesitation.
“And I know that’s all we should be.” I regret the words as soon as I say them. I hate that I’ve said them.
But her eyes soften. Her whole posture softens.
I’m not going to lie. The obvious relief hurts. But then she smiles. A real smile. And I breathe deep.
“We are friends, Lark.”
Then, as if I’ve broken a spell, she levels the wall she’s erected between us. “Sorry. I haven’t had a lot of male friends,” she confesses.
“Because?” I lead, wanting to know and wanting to keep her talking. If friends is all we get to be, I want as much as I can get.
To take the pressure off my question, I turn my gaze back to the splayed fingers of the crow’s wing.
Stella sighs out a laugh. “Trust issues.”
She says it like a joke, but I don’t think it’s funny. I remember our conversation about her days as a new mother—the ones she spent solo—and I smother a growl.
“As a rule,” I say, “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Her laugh is cynical. “Is there a promise I’m missing in all this?” She gestures between us with the hand that holds the knife. It’s angular blade flashes like a warning.
I nod, condemning myself to cold showers and making withdrawals from the spank bank. “I won’t cross any line you lay down.”
ChapterFifteen
STELLA
Am I dreaming,or did Lark just promise to keep us safely in the friend zone?
Judging from that open, thoughtful expression on his face, he did.
Which is great. Really.
Except the first feeling that hits me is disappointment. Seriously heavy, wrecking-ball-esque disappointment.
No, I’m relieved,I tell myself.
