Page 37 of Love Me Fearless

Seeing that determined gleam in her eye makes me want to pull her into my arms and kiss her.

Focus.

I step into the house. “Hello?” To my left is a small living room with a loveseat, coffee table, and TV. Behind it, with a big window overlooking the side yard is a dining area with an oval wood table. A vase of flowers sits to the side, near her laptop and a glass of water on a coaster.

“My laptop is still here,” Ava says.

In the back is the kitchen, the lighting under the cabinets creating a soft glow. Through the glass door I can partially see fromhere is more yard and trees. I slip past the table, my senses on full alert, to the kitchen, but everything is neat.

“Anything missing?” I walk to the sliding glass door that leads to a small deck. Hanging from the eaves are two hummingbird feeders, both half full. I unlock the sliding door and open it, then lock it again.

“Nope,” Ava says.

I follow a short hallway to a T. Straight ahead is a spacious bathroom with two sinks, a freestanding bathtub, and in the right corner, a glass-walled shower enclosure. I peek into the laundry area at the end of the hallway to the right, where a washer and dryer unit are stacked next to a counter and cabinets.

Ava passes me and walks down the hall to the left, to what I’m guessing is the bedroom. “Everything looks the same,” she says from the doorway.

“Huh.” Could we have interrupted someone as they were in the process of breaking in?

Even in the low light, I catch the tension in her gaze. “I probably just didn’t close the door all the way when I got home.”

“It’s not like you to be forgetful,” I say carefully.

She brushes past me. I follow her to the kitchen, where she fills a glass of water from the tap.

“Does anyone else have a key?” I ask.

She takes a long sip of her water. “Mom. My landlord.”

Her mom would have notified Ava before coming over. “Any reason the landlord came by?” If it’s him, I’d sure as hell want to know why he’d drop by at this hour.

“He did mention a heating guy, but it’s supposed to be next week.” She slips her phone from the pocket at the back of her shorts and starts texting. Almost as soon as she sends it, a reply dings.

“Not him.” Ava sets her phone down again. “It had to be me. I was thinking about Marin. And you, and...”

I try to catch her eye but she’s looking down as she drinks another sip of her water.

“Sorry, can I get you anything?” She sets the glass down on the counter and crosses to the fridge, but once it’s open, she seems to lose her purpose. “I have…uh…”

Gently, I push the fridge closed. “Thinking about me how? Finish that sentence.”

Her eyes meet mine, but her look hardens, and I know I’m not going to like what’s about to come out of her mouth. “And how I let my guard down that night.”

“I let mine down too.”For her. Only for her. No woman has ever done it for me the way Ava does. No woman has even come close, and I’m starting to think no one ever will.

She takes a step back. “And look where it got us.”

The sting in my chest moves to my throat. “You bailed, not me.”

Her eyes flash. “I had to.”

“You chose to.”

She leans back against the counter and scrubs her cheeks with her hands. “If I had stayed, what would you have done?”

Images flash through my mind. My hands on her body. Her garbled moans. Her eager, sensual kisses.

“Taken you back to bed.”

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