Page 54 of One Touch

“Well, the first time was when I asked him to be Ava’s nanny.”

“That was ages ago!”

“But that was only one innocent kiss.”

“Innocent, eh?”

“Well,” I sighed, falling into the memory of it. “Not exactly innocent, I guess. More like, extremely intense and completely life-changing.”

“You two have insane chemistry. I always thought so! He’s always coming into your store, for those fancy drinks he doesn’t even like.”

“Wait, he doesn’t like macchiatos?”

Elara grinned. “Put it this way: he never orders one anywhere else. And I heard him saying at one of Ida’s Sunday dinners that nothing beats a plain back coffee.”

I scrunched up my nose. “Well, that’s odd and suspicious.”

“He likes you,” said Elara with an excited giggle.

“Actually, he’s told me, on more than one occasion, that nothing can happen between us.”

“Mm-hmm,” said Elara, nodding. “Yep. Been there. Done that. Now look at me.” She motioned down at her pregnant stomach.

“This is different!” I protested. “There’s Ava to consider.”

Elara gave me a look. “Cole has Rhea and Lexi. And I’m a major asset to their lives, believe me.”

“He’s a widow.”

Elara tapped a finger against her chin and sighed. “Yeah. I get that must complicate things for him. But it was quite a while ago now, and people are allowed to move on, aren’t they? So, what happened with the other time you kissed? There was just one other time, right?”

“Yeah, if you don’t count the soaking wet underwear incident.”

Elara’s eyes practically popped out of her head. “What? Lily, you need to tell me everything. And I mean everything.”

So, I did. Well, everything except the fact I’d woken up coming in my panties thinking about Ethan and I fucking in a fairy tale forest this morning. Everything except that.

I explained how I’d been helping Ethan check Ava for dyslexia. And how we’d almost had sex the night we saw the shooting star.And how we’d both had our hands on each other’s private parts, if only for a moment.

After a lot of excited squealing, she became serious. She shrugged and then said, matter-of-factly, “Well, I’m afraid to say that you need to finish what you started. See if there’s something there. It definitely feels like the universe is trying to tell you something.”

“No, no, no. That’s what the old me would have said. The me that was conned by all these stupid romances—”

“Don’t give me that ‘I’m swearing off men’ nonsense, Lily. Because I don’t believe it for a second.”

“It’s true. I’m exhausted by it all, El. For years, I put myself out there non-stop, and I believed so hard in happy ever afters that I tried to will one into my life. You know how that worked out. A literal car crash.”

“Speaking of that, have you heard anything else from Vlad?”

“Ugh. Yes. He’s going on tour to get me out of his system. Honestly, I don’t think he’s even a little bit upset. Well, maybe he was upset that he didn’t get to perform at the wedding. And he’s sad about the Vladmobile.”

“I’ll never forget the look on his face when the circus music came on.”

“I still struggle to understand how I managed to end up in that situation. It was like I made myself willfully blind.”

“That’s why with Ethan, you need to keep your eyes open.”

I sighed. “It’s not that easy, though. Maybe it is for other people. But the minute I give even an ounce of my heart to someone, I end up losing the whole damn thing. And it’s so complicated. He’s my boss. Ava’s dad. But god, the way he makes me feel. . . .”

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