Regardless, Avery left me on read after my text to her, and I’d barely slept a wink since then. Seeing her at yoga had been torture. Working all weekend didn’t even make me tired. I’d gone home and tossed and turned while thinking—what if?
Keeping secrets from Austin and Dallas was a bad idea. I knew that, and yet, the temptation to finally explore what I’d felt for Avery for so long was too great.
Especially now that I knew she might be interested too.
That was the real problem. I’d done a great job of lying to myself. Convincing myself that Avery would never be interested in me. That she thought of me as nothing more than a family friend.
I walked up the little sidewalk, pressed the doorbell, and waited. Avery’s front porch was decorated with the same brightness as her gallery. She had a welcome mat with a rainbow on it, a few plants in painted pots. Everything in Avery’s world was always vibrant and beautiful, and I just wanted to be part of it.
Already prepared for Avery to be cussing up a storm the moment she tore the door open, I held up the bag of pastries. “Can I come in?”
“It’s not even six yet. Have you lost your mind?” Avery’s cheeks were bright red. She wore nothing but shorts and a tank top. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my gaze strictly on her face.
“Please,” I whispered.
She pressed her lips together, but then she stepped to the side, letting me through the doorway. Avery let the door fall shut, scrutinizing me as I kicked off my boots next to hers.
“You haven’t woken me up this early in ages.”
“Well, I’ve had a lot to think about,” I said.
“Oh? I thought we were just going to ignore everything and keep playing pretend.”
My shoulders tensed and I turned to face her, using the coffee and conchas as a shield. “I don’t want to let things sit. So I decided to bring you breakfast.”
Her gaze raked me up and down.
I held up the coffee. “I brought you caffeine.”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, her expression softening slightly. “Well, can’t say no to that. Come sit.”
Avery’s house always smelled like her. I inhaled the sweet scent as I followed her to her living room, taking a seat on hercouch as she turned on a couple of lamps and then settled down next to me. She swept her hair back and I realized the ends were blue.
“You changed your hair.”
Avery picked up one of the ends, twisting the blue between her fingers. “I did a few days ago. June helped me.”
“It looks really good,” I murmured.
Her lips twisted with a sly smile and she took the coffee from me, taking a slow sip. A soft moan left her. Fuck. My stomach slowly flipped, my blood rushing in my ears. Just that perfect little sound had me wondering how to have her making it again.
For two years, I’d thought about what it would be like for us to be together. For two years, I’d told myself we never could be. It’d been easy to convince myself that she didn’t want to date or that we were too busy.
After the exchange in her studio, I couldn’t just let things go. The truth was, wewerefriends. The desire simmering in me was just the tip of the iceberg. She’d been part of my life for so long now, that the idea of putting our friendship at risk scared the hell out of me.
But because we were friends, I wasn’t going to just let this sit without addressing it.
Avery took another sip of coffee. “So . . . Are we gonna sit here or are we going to talk?”
I was sweating. I adjusted myself on the couch, trying to find the words. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Her brows pinched and she shook her head, immediately stiffening. “No. We’re not going to ignore this, Mateo. Unless I’m wrong about what I think you were trying to say. And if I am, then please go ahead and bury me in the Whynot Cemetery, because I don’t think my ego will recover.”
“You didn’t misunderstand me. But your brothers are my best friends. We live in a small town. Everyone knows everything about us.”
“This isn’t about them, though,” she said. “If there’s some sort of tension between us, then I want to explore it. I deserve the chance to be with you, Mateo. Only if you want to be with me too, though. If you tell me here and now that you don’t feel any of this and just want to be friends, then we’ll be friends.”
“I do feel it. I’ve felt it since you moved back, Avery.”
