Breathe [Running to Love 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Allyson Young

difficult for Rowan to deny herself. Jace admitted that he came to know her better than he knew even his old police friends, and that was saying something. More importantly, he came to better understand himself, as he opened up to Rowan, and found her so tolerant and interested and accepting that it made him open up more and more. He looked forward to the day when he would meet her family and siblings and even entertained the idea of introducing her to his brother and sister. But Jace had been celibate for longer than he could ever remember in his adult life, and he longed to have Rowan in his bed, forever. The idea of forever no longer fazed him. He had even begun to look for a house and found three possibilities to show Rowan once he worked up the courage.
    “I’m going to Tulsa to see Jackie this weekend, Jace.” Rowan popped a cherry tomato into her mouth and chewed it carefully. Jace wanted to reach over and lick her bottom lip and barely restrained himself. They were having dinner together in one of the local restaurants, and all the other patrons were very much aware of them. Jace would normally have been mortified at being the recipient of so many knowing smiles and fatuous glances, but instead kind of reveled in them. He had the hottest, most lovely woman in all of Morrisville, hell, in the whole damn state, as his girlfriend, and he didn’t care who knew it.
    He mentally checked his schedule instead of acting on his carnal need. “I’ll take you, Rowan. I haven’t been back for a bit, and I can catch up with some of the guys. I was kind of a prick to them the last while.”
    She gave him that smile, the one he wanted her to reserve only for him, begrudging even a millimeter of it spilling over onto anyone in close proximity. “That would be great, sweetheart.”
    Jace preened in the face of the endearment and then looked around cautiously. No one seemed to notice his less than manly reaction, and he realized how little it mattered if they had. He smiled back at Rowan, and they finished their meal in comfortable silence after making arrangements for leaving town on the Saturday morning.
     
    * * * *
     
    The drive back to the city involved a lot of handholding and Jace pretending really hard that Rowan’s choice in music was something he could come to live with. He suspected that she in turn didn’t care for country and also compromised. It made him happy to think that they were acting like a real couple, or at least some version of what he hoped a real couple acted like. Without the sex of course, but when they did get into bed together or on some other horizontal service, the wait would make it all worth it in the end. Rowan was staying with Jackie, despite his suggestion that they take a hotel room, and so he had called Max.
    Max willingly offered his spare room and told him that he’d made arrangements for them to meet with some old friends at the club for the game. He walked Rowan from the car up to Jackie’s place, carrying her little overnight bag, and kissed her good-bye, promising to return the next day in the afternoon to pick her up. It was hard to leave her, but he saw the excitement in her eyes and knew she really needed time with her friend. Jackie didn’t seem terribly pleased to see him, and Jace ruefully remembered how he had harassed her in the past for news of Rowan. It was something else for him to make amends for in the future, although he suspected she might forgive him. He headed over to Max’s home, and once he had exchanged a manly, shoulder-pounding hug with his friend and caught up a little, addressed the plan to visit the club.
    “I’m not sure that Alistair will appreciate me turning up there, Max.”
    “He’s past your fuck up, Jace. He was the one who suggested we get together and have a few drinks.”
    Jace felt considerable relief. He liked ’Stair, despite their past difficulties, and hoped this meant they could connect again, although it would never be like old