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My heart skips a tortuous beat. If I’d answered his texts and made plans to meet him somewhere to return the ring, then maybe I could have avoided this situation. The disappointment on his face is almost too much to bear. Part of me still responds to the hurt in his brown eyes. I do my best to squash that part of myself that wants me to relent and take back the hurt I just caused him, to find a way to smooth it over. Some habits are hard to break and doing whatever it takes to make Chris happy is one of them.
“Well you didn’t,” I say, eyes downcast, “and now it’s too late.”
He steps forward, placing one hand on the open door behind me, and cages me in. “You can’t turn your feelings on and off like that. It doesn’t work that way.”
“You didn’t give me a choice. You packed up your shit and left. Remember?”
“I also remember calling you the next day to work things out, but you’d already hopped on a plane. What the hell was that, Jules?”
“That was me doing what I should’ve done a long time ago.” I draw in a deep breath then let it out. “Neither of us wanted to admit that we were over way before I fucked up with Perry. That was just the catalyst.”
“I don’t buy it. I know you still love me.”
“Part of me will always love you. We’ve known each other for years. How can I not?”
“Then how the fuck can you give up on us like this?”
I flinch at his harsh tone. “It’s not a matter of giving up, Chris. It’s about moving forward.”
He clenches his jaw, and his eyes darken, causing my chest to tighten. As his face comes closer, I forget how to breathe. Next thing I know, his mouth is on mine, the pressure of his lips familiar and insistent as his tongue works past my resistance and darts inside.
He groans, but my throat is a vise silencing even the faintest of sounds. I slam my palms against his chest, meaning to push him away. Instead, I’m paralyzed.
There’s something comforting in his kiss—a hint of the stability I’d grown used to while we were together—and for a few agonizing heartbeats, I give in, returning lick for lick as I grip his shirt in my hands. It’s like being transported back to Oklahoma, to simpler times when he was mine and I was his. We might have fought too often, but at the end of the day I knew I’d have him to come home to.
Until the day I didn’t.
Reality slams into me, and I break the kiss before it can go any further. “I can’t do this.”
“Tell me you didn’t feel that, Jules.”
There’s triumph in his eyes, and I’m about to set him straight when I catch sight of the figure standing behind Chris.
Cash is motionless, his gray eyes narrowed and turbulent as a brewing storm. He’s clutching a takeout bag in his fist, and in the other, I spot a bouquet of tulips.
I open my mouth to speak, but Chris takes one look at my stricken expression and whirls to find my boss standing behind him, staring back with a harsh glint in the steel of his eyes.
“Can we help you with something?” Chris demands, attempting to block my view of Cash.
I step out from behind my ex and find Cash swinging his gaze between Chris and me. He ensnares me in his sight for a few heavy beats, perhaps waiting for me to tell him that what he saw was nothing.
No big deal. A misunderstanding, even.
But this is a conversation we can’t have in front of Chris. The last thing I want to do is cause him more trouble when he’s already dealing with so much. I try to relay to him silently that there is an explanation, but the turbulence in his eyes is a dark gunmetal gray—as overpowering as the weight of the air between the three of us.
There’s no mistaking his anger, and behind that, mistrust.
He’s been betrayed before, and he knows I’ve betrayed someone before. Even knowing that, the way he’s staring at me fucking hurts. He turns away, and I have to bite my lip to keep from calling after him. With Chris here, we can’t afford a bigger scene.
“Who was that?” Chris asks after Cash disappears down the stairs that lead into the alley.
“Just some guy Les set me up with.” My voice wobbles too much, and I can’t meet his gaze because I’m certain he’ll see through the lie.
“That wasn’t a random hookup, Jules. That dude was so fucking territorial, I’m surprised he didn’t piss on your doorstep.”
“It was nothing, really.” I retreat into the sanctuary of my apartment, and Chris follows, letting the door slam behind him.
“It wasn’t nothing. The guy brought you tulips, so don’t even try to play this off as if it’s no big deal. Who is he, Jules?”
