“Honesty,” she said.
I nodded.
“And what about me?” she asked, voice quieter now. Almost a whisper. Not uncertain. Just… testing.
“Honesty?” I asked.
She nodded, eyes locked onto mine and took a deep breath.
“I want you, Ava.”
She blinked. Just once. No dramatic reaction. No snarky retort.
But her hand flexed slightly where it rested in mine. And her eyes didn’t look away.
“Then maybe,” she said, “you should start by telling your ex to find a different woman to try to intimidate.”
I laughed under my breath, low and rough.
“Do it soon,” she said. “Because I am not a placeholder or a replacement for your bed buddy.”
I smirked. “Noted.”
The song faded. Another started, faster, rowdier. We stopped dancing but didn’t step apart right away.
I let go first, because if I didn’t, I wasn’t sure I ever would.
Ava didn’t smile. She studied me like she wasn’t sure she liked the answer to the question only she knew.
And as she turned toward the bar, I caught her whispering something to Remi.
Whatever it was, it made Remi laugh, low, surprised, and full of something I hadn’t heard in either of them in too long.
For the first time that night, I didn’t feel like the enemy in my own story. I felt like things were looking up.
And for the first time in a long damn while, I wanted to stay in the moment with her instead of running from it.
CHAPTER 21
AVA - DON'T FALL
The fundraiser was over, the heels were off, and the red dress was in a wrinkled heap at the bottom of the laundry basket like it had never ruined my entire night.
Or saved it.
I wasn’t sure which yet.
Remi had crashed hard on the couch as soon as we got home, soft snores echoing through the apartment like proof that she, at least, could sleep after everything that had gone down.
Me? I was wide awake.
And pissed off about it.
The thing was dancing with Harlan shouldn’t have mattered. It shouldn’t have made my blood heat up like a live wire under my skin or made me feel like maybe someone could hold me without needing to fix me or claim me or pull me apart.
But it did. And that was the problem.
Because attraction, I could handle. Flirting, I could ignore. But that moment, where he looked at me like I was something he wanted to protect and not own, that got under my skin.
