and hope for more, but we didn’t make sense in the city. I had known going into this that it was for one weekend only, so it wouldn’t be fair to change the rules at this late stage in the game.
Summoning every bit of courage and strength I could, I forced myself to sound chipper as I moved to get up and said, “We have to go. It’s time to get back to our real lives.”
34
Oliver
Violet remained stoic as she drove us back down to the city. I had offered more than once to take the wheel, so she could rest, but she didn’t think I was quite ready for highway driving in traffic.
The further south we went, the more the panic settled in and weighed down my chest. It was starting to feel like Vi was going to stick with the ridiculous notion that this relationship should end when we got home.
When I had agreed to have a weekend fling with her to help her move on and heal, I hadn’t anticipated the strong, real feelings I would develop for her. It had been so much more than just a bit of fun for me. I’d never felt this way about anyone.
I turned to look at her profile as she carefully drove us home. She was constantly glancing in the rearview mirrors, checking the dashboard displays, and watching the road ahead of us. I ached to reach out to her, but I knew she wouldn’t want any distractions from her focus on delivering us safely home.
She was so lovely it nearly took my breath away, but it wasn’t just her looks that drew me in. I’d dated beautiful women before, but none had made my heart stutter in my chest like Vi did. Even the simplest glance from her made me desperate for more.
It startled me to realize it, but I wanted everything from Vi. I couldn’t get enough of her. Spending the rest of our days and nights together wouldn’t even be enough. I wanted all of her––forever.
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to feel the same way about me. She appeared to be perfectly content with the idea of us dropping off the rental car, going our separate ways, and never seeing each other again. The mere idea of it made my chest burn like my heart had been set ablaze.
Was this how the women I’d casually slept with and left felt? If so, I needed to make some serious amends. This was horrific. I would never intentionally make anyone feel this terrible.
The car had fallen into an easy silence as the hours and miles flew by. She seemed on a mission to get us back to New York as efficiently as possible. As I watched the scenery outside our windows gradually morph from land and trees to buildings and busy roads, my breath started coming in shallow, almost-panicked gasps.
I couldn’t let things end this way. I had to find a way to make her want to stay with me. Searching my brain, I tried to come up with words that would convey the depth of my feelings for her, but everything I could think of came up short.
As we crossed the bridge into the city, I feared that I might have a full-blown panic attack. We would be at the rental car lot in a matter of minutes. I had to try something––even if it came out as underwhelming words that didn’t accurately reflect what was in my heart. I would never forgive myself if I let her go without even trying to win her over.
I cleared my throat, preparing to let the words spew out in a rush. It might not be the perfectly planned speech I would have preferred, but it was better than staying silent.
My intended words were halted when Vi glared at the dashboard of the car and said, “Oh, no!”
“What is it?” I asked her, hoping that it wasn’t anything too serious.
As the big, strong male, I should be able to fix whatever was wrong with the car, but I didn’t have any idea how to address any issues under the hood. The only thing I could think of to troubleshoot was filling the tank with gas, but I knew that wasn’t the problem because we’d stopped at an exit just before traffic going into the city started picking up.
“The car is starting to overheat,” Vi revealed as I saw the adorable little line between her brows emerge.
“Maybe we should pull over,” I