HOPE
I didn’t remember when he pulled away, only that my lips still tingled from his kiss.
Ace’s hands lingered on my waist for a moment longer, his eyes unreadable and dark as ever. Then, just like that, he took a single step back, dragging the air out of my lungs with him.
“We’ll pretend that didn’t happen,” he said.
His voice was clipped. Cold. Like he hadn’t just kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive.
“Oh,” I managed, swallowing the ball of emotion threatening to rise.
It was the right thing. We were playing with fire, and we both knew it. But still… his tone felt like ice.
He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a sleek black phone… new, slim, untraceable. He tossed it to me.
“You’re my assistant now. Use that. Your schedule’s already been loaded in. You'l
