Page 189 of The Dixon Rule

I scrub a hand over my face, uncomfortable under Gigi’s and Mya’s surprised scrutiny. My feelings for Diana have been percolating for months now, but this is the first time I’ve been able to give them a label. Love. I fucking love this girl.

I didn’t expect the realization to strike in front of an audience, and I wish her friends would just leave already and let me go see my girl.

“Seriously,” I mutter to Gigi. “So do me a favor and let me take it from here. Please.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“You said she’s okay, right? She’s pissed but not shaken up. He didn’t touch her. So, please, just go. I really appreciate that you drove her home and stayed with her while the cops were here, but I’m asking you, very nicely, to go now so I can be alone with the woman I love.”

After a long beat, Gigi nods. “Fine. But I’m calling her in an hour, and if she sounds even the least bit upset, I’m driving back and kicking you out myself.”

“Fair. And I mean it—thank you for being here for her. You’re a good friend. Both of you.”

After they leave, I lock the door and return to the living room. I groan my frustration into my palms while trying to ignore the little spark of fear that asks, What if Gigi and Mya hadn’t been with her? What if he somehow found a way to—

No, I can’t even think about that.

But I should have been there, damn it.

“So you love me.”

I look up and find Diana standing in the hall doorway. She’s wrapped in that pink towel she was wearing the first time I saw her in this building. Her cheeks are red from the shower. She walks toward me on bare feet.

“You heard that, huh?” I say ruefully.

“Yep.” Her green eyes sweep over me. “Did you mean it?”

“Do I ever say anything I don’t mean?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It sure looked like you meant it when you chose your ex over me.”

“I didn’t choose her over you. I know it seems like that, but I needed to go with her tonight. I had a suspicion I needed to confirm.”

“What suspicion?”

“That my relationship with Lynsey was not as good as I thought it was.”

My words bring a twinkle of humor to her eyes. She bites her lip.

“Are you trying not to laugh?” I demand.

“Sort of. I mean, it was so obvious. From everything you’ve said about her, it sounds like the relationship was the Lynsey Show and you were just a supporting cast member.”

“I see that now. And I wanted to talk to her tonight so I could tell her all that. And to make sure she knows I don’t want to get back together.”

“But she tried to, didn’t she? Just like I said she would.”

“I had a feeling she would too,” I admit.

Diana glares at me. “And yet you acted like the idea was so preposterous when I raised it.”

“Look, when she said she broke up with Tyreek, it occurred to me she might try to rekindle things, but that’s not why I wanted to see her.”

“Really. You didn’t want your little ego boost from knowing your ex is dying to get you back?”

“No. I didn’t. I needed to have that final moment with her. We were together for four years. I wanted her to know that we weren’t right for each other and that I’ve fallen in love with my girlfriend. My real girlfriend.”

Diana is biting her lip again. But the smile cannot be contained. It bursts through, lighting her entire face. “I don’t think you’re lying to me.”

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