She’s dismissive and probably made of metal instead of flesh and bone.
My tongue swipes over my bottom lip. I swore an oath to despise baseball, but I had no clue this field house was designed for more than after school programs. My blood tingles in my fingertips. My pulse throbs in my neck. The adrenaline that comes before doing something bold, something reckless, floods my veins.
Am I doing this?
Oh, I’m doing this.
Mug in hand, I round the corner. Carina stands with one hip popped, her arms crossed over her chest with intention to draw the eye to her cleavage. I have no issue with women being proud of their figures, but Carina uses it like a weapon. Cornering men until they have no choice but to get close in order to escape.
Annika has a splash of pink on her cheeks, and she keeps fluttering her lashes. James leans against the corner wall, merely watching out of boredom probably.
The man in question has his back toward me, a fitted suit over his lean strength, and I hate myself a little for taking a few breaths to drink him all in.
Before I have time to lose my backbone, I clear my throat. “Excuse the interruption, but I couldn’t help but hear you need an industrial designer. I’d be interested in the job.”
Carina’s mouth drops. Annika lets out a little gasp. James chuckles from the doorway. I don’t blame them. No one defies Carina Haven, and here I am about to lose my job on the hope this guy wasn’t all words, and actually will hire an independent designer.
He turns over his shoulder.
The backbone I fought so hard to keep dissolves into a fine powder. The patter of my heart comes to an abrupt halt, and I lose feeling in my toes from the shock of pure confusion and elation at the sight of his face.
I swallow loudly. “I’d be interested, Ryder.”
Ryder
Not once inmy life have I wondered what it felt like to be buried alive beneath the concrete of a sidewalk. But my ribs are crushing in on my lungs, and I’m not sure my head is working right through the haze spinning around in my brain.
In the light of day, I can appreciate everything I left behind in the worst way.
Her face is still an ache to the chest. Once a hot knife that dulled to a simmer of pain.
Now, it is the reason my pulse won’t stop thudding in my head.
Ten years hasn’t dampened the shape of her slender face or the bright blue light in those eyes.
Even still, this Ava is vastly different from the last image I’ve kept in a dark, secret place in my memories. Her hair is long and smooth, her cheeks full and flushed, her body curvy and perfect. My throat tightens. The last time I saw her was in my rearview mirror with red, glassy eyes, and tears on those cheeks.
I’ve closed myself off to sentimentality and vulnerability. It does nothing but break hearts, but the memories of those tears . . . those crush a piece of me I forgot existed.
I hate that there is an immediate softness toward her. One that brings me to a stop. One that keeps me planted here, gawking.
“I apologize,” Carina Haven says; her long fingers brush over my arm. Even in a suitcoat, the touch leaves an uncomfortable prickle on my skin. She points her scowl at Ava. “Miss Williams, this is wholly unprofessional. I need to speak with you in my office. Now.”
Ava drags her bottom lip between her teeth. My gaze drops to that mouth like a neon billboard, and I can’t look away.
With a hard swallow, she musters a touch of composure and ignores her boss entirely. “I . . . can do the job, Mr. Huntington.”
My brain hasn’t moved on from the reality that we are standing here again. Obviously, the risk was there, but I’d convinced myself I could do this without disrupting her life again.
I’m an idiot. I’m pretty sure my mouth is half open as I barely hear her describe her qualifications.
The sharp tone of Carina Haven snaps me out of my daze.
“Get into my office.” The last word slips out of Carina’s teeth like a hiss.
What am I doing here? All at once a flood of memories, the beautiful, the horrible, the ugly, slams into my skull. I need to go. Now.
“Excuse me,” I mumble out, then spin on my heel and beeline it for the door.
