Page 22 of Insta-Love

I need a woman who’s going to push and encourage me, a business mind, someone who won’t settle for mediocre. And from what I’ve seen of Ava that’s exactly what she’s done. Possibly even settled for less. I should be repulsed by her, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why I’m not.

Instead of wanting to get the hell out of here and leave her behind, I’m secretly hoping Lily has to stay the night so I’ve got an excuse to see more of Ava.

What the fuck is going on upstairs there, Bowen?

This woman’s got me all kinds of twisted, and it’s a feeling I’m not accustomed to.

“How long do x-rays take?” she asks, twisting her fingers in a circle around her wrist.

“Shouldn’t be much longer.” I run my gaze along the slope of her jawline, tracing the lines across to her fuller lips. She has the most expressive eyes, the dark of her irises telling so much more than her words let on. She’s been put down in the past, ridiculed or used—why else would she feel so obligated to defend her skills as a mother at every opportunity? Somebody’s put it in her head that she’s not enough, and what surprises me most is the fact I’m sitting here, with a woman I barely know, staring at the soft sweep of her lashes as she blinks, wondering how I can be the one to prove otherwise.

I’ve never wanted to selflessly spend time on another person before. I gave up trying to help people when that goodwill got thrown back in my face as a kid. Empathy got me nowhere, yet pride and selfishness got me everything. Looking after myself first and foremost became such a part of who I am that I can’t even recall the last time I woke up in the morning without my needs forefront in my mind.

But this woman, Ava, this battler in every sense—she’s under my skin, and I can’t resist the urge to scratch much longer.

---