Flawless: A Small Town Enemies to Lovers Romance

And sometimes I wonder if he’s a hell of a lot more fucked up than he lets on, too

He’s connected the freckles to say Mine.

And God, in this moment, I feel like that might be true

Did you not hear me, Bush? I said not a fucking chance. I know your games. Play them somewhere else. Breathe on this girl the wrong way, and I’ll end you right here rather than just kicking your ass in the ring.”

With everyone around me screaming his name and cheering for him, someone who’s been theirs for over a decade now, he feels like mine. Because he’s staring at me

I laugh. “Godspeed to the man who tries to tell Willa Grant what to do.”

“Amen,” is my friend’s solemn reply.

“It’s okay to put yourself first. Don’t settle, Wils.”

Her chest rises and falls with some strain now. “Rhett. You can’t look at me like that,” she says breathily. “You really, really can’t.” Her eyes press shut, like she might be able to erase me from her mind.

“Why not?” My voice is all gravel as I soak up the pained expression on her face.

“Because it’s confusing.”

Like hell. I reach down and hitch her leg up, wrapping it around my waist. Right where it belongs

You deserve so much better, Summer. It’s like you’re so busy forcing yourself to smile and be happy all the time that you don’t even realize when you’re entitled to be pissed off.”

That comment strikes me speechless, and I momentarily let myself imagine a world in which I didn’t care what people thought. Where I didn’t constantly work to keep everyone around me appeased. Where there wasn’t this ever-present need to make up for being born a burden. What might that kind of freedom feel like? To do something I want without worrying about every possible fallout

Seeing Rhett and his family together—even pestering each other the way they do—makes my chest ache. I want that one day

He sees my attention shift, and he dangles a carrot into my line of vision, thinking he’ll make me lose focus. The problem is, I’m not all that into carrots these days. I’m favoring whiskey and leather