Page 18 of We Never Kissed

Of course, I knew she was joking, but the thought sent my mind spinning and my pulse kicking up. It wasn’t how things were supposed to be these days but if that was what Ava wanted, I’d give it to her. I’d give her anything…

Me:Well…

Her reply was a series of emojis ranging from surprise to laughter and a few I didn’t know the meaning of and wasn’t about to ask.

Me:I meant I have some connections both in real estate and publishing.

Ava:Thank you, but seriously, I have to do this on my own. Mark helped me to get my job, and I don’t want help anymore. I need to do this on my own.

Me:And you will. I have faith in you. You are a strong and determined woman, and you can do anything you set your mind to.

Three dots jumped for a minute, and I wondered if I’d said the wrong thing, even though I couldn’t see how.

Ava:Apartment manager is coming back. Gotta run… Talk soon?

I didn’t get a chance to reply before my phone rang, and I immediately answered it.

“Alex Bannister.”

“Alex Bannister! Answering his phone, and on the first ring? Did you get canned,sweetheart?”

I let out an uneasy breath. “Not even close. You just got lucky.”

“Oh, you know how I love to get lucky…”

“How are you, Jessica?” I replied, ignoring her innuendo. Jessica tended to lay it on thick whether she meant it or not. And it was a dicey line to balance on with her since her father owns one of the companies in a deal I’m brokering. She’s sort of unofficially involved, but the way she constantly flirts with me makes me forget that we are supposed to be doing business together.

“Listen, honey. I’m just having brunch with my dad, and he says the lawyers are taking longer than they should, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t want you to worry.”

“I wasn’t. But I don’t think that’s the only reason you called.”

“Of course not. I was just making sure we’re still on for Friday night.”

This was something I had been dreading. She’d been asking me for a dinner date to talk about another deal she wanted to present to dear daddy, and I finally gave in, but this really could complicate things with Ava. I had to tread lightly with Jessica and not upset the current deal, but I also wasn’t about to be her boy toy just so she wouldn’t tell her daddy to put the kibosh on our deal because of her wounded ego. If I were being honest with myself, beforekissing Ava, I wouldn’t have been opposed to sleeping with Jessica, but now…

“Looking forward to it,” I said.

When I ended the call, I swiped back to the picture of Ava on my phone. Maybe I was reading too much into Jessica’s motives. Maybe it was all about business, and that was just her way. One thing I was sure about—I couldn’t tell Ava about this.

Chapter 11

Ava

I stared at the screen on my laptop, waiting for Alex to come back. He’d said he wanted to get comfortable, lose the suit he’d had on for more than twelve hours. My heart raced at the slim chance that he’d come back half-dressed, which I wouldn’t have minded in the least. I heard him come back into the room—his bedroom—and then he crawled onto his bed, wearing gray sweatpants—good lord—and a black UCLA T-shirt.

“Miss me?” he said, his arm draping across his chest after he adjusted the level of his screen.

The way his bicep pressed the limits of his shirt had me wondering if someone turned the AC off.Damn, this man is hot. Facetiming wasn’t something wehad ever done much of, but given our circumstances, we both seemed to crave seeing each other’s face instead of just texting.

“I figured you were primping…” I laughed.

He gave me a sexy half grin, but his expression might have had a hint of embarrassment. “I don’t primp.”

“Uh-huh. Your hair just naturally looks that amazing.”

He ran a hand through his thick mane, messing it up yet somehow making him look twice as sexy. We stared at each other for a few beats before he said in that deep heady tone, “Well, I missed you.”

He knew exactly what he was doing, and it was working. I pushed myself higher up on my pillow, nerves bundling inside me. I wasn’t used to navigating this type of conversation with Alex, even though I’d had plenty of fantasies about him.

---