“We can’t,” he cuts me off with a terse shake of his head. “I can’t, Ava.”
I ignore all of that because it’s tied into his relationship with my brother. I don’t care about that right now. I care about what just happened between us.
“What do you feel?” I press him to tell me.
He shoots me a look that says it all. There’s desire swimming in his eyes. His jaw is tense, and his fists are clutched tight against his body. He’s doing everything in his power not to reach out and touch me again.
“I’m too old for you,” he tosses out that as an excuse.
“I’ve been with men older than you,” I counter.
His gaze turns dark. “What? How old?”
“Does it matter?” I ask to avoid telling him that I slept with a guy a decade older than me, but his experience level didn’t reflect that.
He lasted slightly longer than zero did, but the thirty seconds he did invest in our fucking, was enough for him to get off. For me, it was enough to push him off me and send him out of my life forever.
“I’m not innocent,” I go on. “I’ve had sex, Harry. I’ve had lovers, as in plural.”
“Stop,” he snaps. “We’re not talking about this.”
“You’d rather talk about the reasons why we can’t be honest about how we feel?” I tilt my chin up. “You’re an adult. I’m an adult. I happen to believe that two consenting adults can have a mature discussion about sex. Before, during, and after it happens.”
His hand darts to his forehead as he drops his gaze to the sidewalk. “We can’t have this discussion, Ava.”
“Why not?” I push, not caring that people are passing us by.
None of them seem to notice that we’re embroiled in a discussion about sex, but this is Manhattan, and it’s not uncommon to overhear bits and pieces of intimate conversations between strangers as you make your way down the sidewalk.
“I’m taking you home.” He pulls that out of his bag of lame tricks. “Let’s go.”
“No.” I shift my feet slightly, widening my stance to demonstrate that I’m standing my ground. “We haven’t finished this conversation.”
“We have,” he says. “It’s time to go home, Ava.”
Exasperated, I spit out the name of the person standing between us even though he’s likely fast asleep next to his fiancée at this moment. “Sean. That’s what all of this is about, right? You’re worried about Sean.”
“If he knew I kissed you, he’d kill me, Ava.”
“He wouldn’t kill you.” I rub the back of my neck. “How would he ever know it happened? I choose who I kiss and fuck. I don’t report that to my brother.”
Frustrated, I glance toward the street.
“Ava.” My name is softer now as it falls from his lips. “You’re incredible, but I can’t. I just can’t.”
I step back because I will never beg a man for attention. Ever.
His loyalty is to Sean, and I won’t trample over that because I want another taste of him.
“Understood,” I say.
His gaze sticks to my lips. “I’m sorry.”
Shaking my head, I look beyond his shoulder to an approaching taxi. “There’s no reason to be sorry. I know how much your friendship with Sean means to both of you.”
“I’ll take you home now.” He motions toward the corner.
“That’s okay.” I move around him to wave to the oncoming taxi driver. “I’m grabbing a cab.”
Harry steps off to open the back passenger door for me as the cab stops next to the curb.
“Thank you,” I whisper before sliding inside. “Get home safely.”
His response is a slight nod before he shuts the door.
I tell the driver where I’m headed, and as he steers the car away from the curb, I take one last look at the man who kissed me breathless.
Our eyes lock for a moment before I’m swept off to my apartment alone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Harrison
I swing open the door to my home to find my youngest sister standing on the stoop. Alone.
I glance past her to the street below, noting the dark SUV idling by the curb and the man standing next to it.
“Mom asked Donald to drop me off,” Roxy informs me. “Her flight was canceled, so she had to rush to catch an earlier one.”
“A heads-up would have been nice.” I raise a hand in greeting to one of my mom’s oldest and dearest friends. “Hey, Donald!”
He tosses me a wave back.
“My suitcase is heavy,” Roxy complains. “I packed almost all of my clothes in there.”
I wrap a hand around the handle and pick it up with ease.
She trots past me with two stuffed animals in her hands. “You need to go get Mr. Greenface from Donald’s car. He’s scared to touch him.”
I take a step into the foyer and drop the suitcase. “How did Mr. Greenface get into the car then?”
She shoots me that ‘you’re-an-idiot-look’ I’ve grown fond of. “Ryden put him in there.”
“Ryden put him in there?” I repeat.
“That’s what I said.” She drops to her knees to unzip one of the front compartments of her suitcase.
“He’s back in Manhattan?”
“Uh-huh,” she says absentmindedly.
Another heads-up for the return of my brother would have been nice, but apparently, our mother lost my number in her haste to bag a new husband.
I skirt around my sister and head out of the open doorway. “I’ll grab the lizard.”
“Don’t call him that to his face.” She wags a finger at me. “He doesn’t know he’s a lizard. Call him Mr. Greenface. That makes him happy.”
Holding in a laugh, I race down the concrete steps to where Donald is still standing.
He opens the back passenger door to reveal a large aquarium and a bag containing everything I’ll need to care for my sister’s pet for the next ten days.
“Good luck with this, Harrison.” Donald grins. “Between this and little Miss Roxy, you’ll have your hands full.”
“If you’d just ask Ramona to marry you, I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”
He shakes his head. “Been there and done that three times, my boy. My old heart can’t stand to be broken again.”
Donald and my mother belong together, but she can’t see that.
To her, he’s her loyal friend, but to him, she’s the only woman he’s ever loved.
I reach in and scoop the bag’s handle over my arm before I gingerly grab the aquarium. “Thanks for giving Roxy a lift.”
He pats the center of my back. “You know my number if you need help this week. I’m always here for all of you.”
All of us.
That includes my brother.
The fact that Ryden snuck back into New York City without a word to me shouldn’t be surprising. I expect that from him, but sooner or later, I know I’ll find him on my doorstep.
“Wiley said you brought a princess to the bar the other night,” Donald says as he slams the car door shut. “I’d love to meet her.”