Page 135 of Play Dirty

“Objectively? Definitely.”

I picked up my coffee again and took a pull.

“Doesn’t mean we stop.”

That hung there for a while. Eventually, Haven let out a slow breath.

“And what if I wanted to?”

Ares tilted his head.

“Do you?”

She opened her mouth. Closed it.

“… that’s not what I said.”

Sebastian’s mouth curled into a smirk.

“Didn’t think so.”

I watched her reaction carefully.

“You can always walk away,” I said.

Her attention swung my way.

“Can I?”

“Yeah.”

A beat.

“If that’s what you want.”

More silence. Then—

“… and if it’s not?” she asked.

I took a slow sip of my coffee. All the way until dregs appeared.

“Then you stop pretending this is temporary… because it’s not.”

That landed. I could see it.

In all of them.

The shift. The realization.

The storm hammered the windows again, harder this time, like it was trying to remind us the rest of the world still existed.

Right now though, it didn’t feel like it.

Not in that kitchen.

Not right then.

Haven looked at each of us, one by one. Then she smiled.