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“Ryan?” Ava asks, waving her hand in front of my face.
I reach my hand up, lifting the braid slightly before planting a searing kiss on her lips. She tastes sweet from the syrup, only making me hungry for more, but she pulls away all too soon with her cheeks tinted pink.
The hand I have in her hair falls down, clutching around one of the hands in her lap and threading through her delicate fingers. This is how I drive until we reach work, only letting go because she needs to get out.
If I could hold her hand all day, I would.
She stares at the revolving doors, watching as other workers stride through them, and closes her eyes. I watch as she takes a few deep breaths, preparing herself for a long workday. It doesn’t take long before she’s inching closer to the doors, her shoulders straight and her head held high.
That’s my girl.
Damn, I love the sound of that.
It’s Alex’s name popping up on the screen of my phone that has me cursing under my breath, but I ignore the call and follow behind Ava.
Chapter15
Ava
It feels weird being back in the office after spending some much-needed time away. It gave me a chance to think about everything that’s happened up until now, and I’m happy to know that Ryan feels the same way as me.
Millie is smiling at me when I burst through the elevators, ready to welcome me with a big hug. She pulls me into her embrace and I sigh at the weight that’s lifted from my shoulders for a moment.
The power of a simple hug, it’s crazy.
I glance around the office, my eyes widening at the flowers added to my desk. There’s a flower added for each of the days I was gone, and I’m sure it won’t be long before the delivery guy comes through the elevators with another one. It makes me smile to know that Ryan had been thinking of me all this time. I need to figure out a way to thank him without letting on that I know he’s been sending them.
Millie catches my glance, smirking at me with a knowing glint in her eyes. “Like clockwork, babe. There will probably be another in about an hour.” She rolls her eyes at the assortment, secretly judging how cute Ryan and I are.
A few of them are dying from being kept on my desk, but I can’t seem to get rid of them even though I should. Some of the petals from other flowers are scattered across my desk from falling off and I reluctantly throw the dying ones away.
“Millie, were there any notes left with any of them?” I ask, knowing that if there were any she probably put them away somewhere for me. She reaches around her side of the cubicle, holding out a stack of thick stock paper. I snatch them from her quickly, eager to see what they say.
You looked beautiful today
That one was signed for a week ago, the day after everything happened at Millie’s apartment with Alex. When I asked Ryan to take me to the store, to keep myself busy and to stop all the thoughts running through my mind, he gladly took me. That has to be the day he’s talking about here.
You’re on my mind every day. I can’t wait until you’re mine again.
This one is odd, since we were never actually together, but maybe he’s talking about the night of our first kiss? It sure felt like he was mine when we kissed on New Year’s. It’s hard not to think back to the night and realize that he wasn’t mine at the time. The kiss was like claiming a part of my soul, I’d do it all over again if I could.
Your hair looked pretty today. I wish that you’d do it like that every day.
I smile at the memory of the other day, when I decided to straighten it so that I didn’t have to deal with the frizzy mess it usually is while doing things around the house. He never said anything when he got home, only glanced at me and went to his office for most of the time. If I’m being honest, the way he looked at the braid I’m sporting today, I thought this would’ve been his favorite.
The rest of the flowers didn’t come with notes, which is fine by me since I can’t spend most of my time reading them over and over again like I’ve been doing with all the others. I place the notes in the top drawer of my desk, where the others are, and log onto the company website to get started on the day.
Like Millie said, an hour into the shift the flower delivery guy walks through the office and comes straight to my desk. He seems less irritated today than usual, and I take the time to give him a big smile with a tip for all the deliveries he’s been doing lately. I assume Ryan has been tipping him generously, but you never know. The delivery guy thanks me before walking more confidently back through the elevators.
I place the single roses into the vase with all the others and clutch onto the note with a rapidly beating heart. The words on the paper almost send tears to my eyes.
You’re my favorite part of every day.
Millie glances over and reads the words over my shoulder. “If only I could find a man like this one. If you don’t marry him, I’ll take him off your hands.”
I playfully push her away with a chuckle. The idea of spending forever with him doesn’t seem so bad. This morning was surprisingly calming and very domestic. I didn’t mind it. When I woke up this morning to find him sleeping peacefully next to me, tangled up in my blankets, I let myself smile through the rest of the morning until he woke up.
I’ve been wanting to talk to Millie about our growing relationship. “Hey, Millie, drink later?”
