I’d been staring at my phone longer than I cared to admit.
Too long.
Every minute that passed without a message from Avril tightened something in my chest. I told myself to be patient. To give her space. To follow her rules. But restraint had never been my strength—not when it came to her.
I replayed last night in fragments: the way she leaned into me, the way she pulled back, the way her eyes softened and hardened all at once. Desire and warning tangled together. She hadn’t rejected me—but she hadn’t trusted me either.
And I deserved that.
I’d gone back to the apartment after a meeting at the office and sat in the dark, her scent clinging to me like a memory I couldn’t shake. I poured a drink I didn’t finish. Slept for an hour. Woke up with the same thought looping in my head.
Some
