Page 33 of Ava After Midnight

I stop breathing.

Domingo doesn’t.

His gaze flicks toward the sound, sharp, calculating. His entire body shifts—not startled. Not worried. Just… aware.

Our eyes meet.

Time slows.

In that split second, I see everything.

Everything we could be. Everything we might have been.

Everything that’s about to crash and burn around us.

The doorknob turns.

I flinch.

Domingo doesn’t.

He leans back against the wall, arms loose at his sides, bare skin still marked by last night.

The footsteps stop.

A voice.

Familiar. Close. Too fucking close.

“Ava?”

My blood runs cold.

Domingo smirks.

Like a man who knows whoever’s at that door is already too late.

Chapter Ten

DOMINGO

Adrenaline jolts through my veins as Ava scrambles for her clothes and I leisurely collect my own, the intoxicating haze of last night replaced by stark reality. Ava’s hands tremble as she buttons her shirt, and I ache to still them, to pull her back into the cocoon of whispered Spanish and forbidden touches we created.

But the real world won’t wait.

“Ava?” Zoe’s voice pierces our haven first, concern edged with warning. She stands in the doorway, assessing, before continuing to speak in a raised voice, no doubt meant for whoever came with her. “Hair and makeup are here! And your mom’s right behind me with the dress!”

Ava freezes mid-motion, eyes going wide. “No, it’s tomorrow?—”

“It’s Saturday morning.” Zoe’s already in motion, erasing traces of what happened between us. “Your perfect country club wedding waits for no one.”

“Fuck.” Ava rakes a hand through her tangled curls. Marks from my hungry mouth stain her neck, and a dark part of me hums in satisfaction at the sight. But then I see it—the conflict inher eyes. The way she’s already slipping back into the version of herself that was made for him, not for me.

“Kitchen, back door,” Zoe instructs, nodding toward the hallway. “I’ll distract them. But move— they’re unloading up front.”

I snatch my phone and hesitate. “Ava?—”

“I can’t.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “I need time to think.”

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