Page 56 of Passenger Princess

"This shit should not happen to you oranyone, Ava."

She rolls her eyes, her signature move toward me at this point. "It’s fine. All’s well, that ends well."

I look at her, shake my head, and let that irritation and fury win. Not irritation at her, but at the world, at this pageant, for making her feel like she has to just acceptthis, thatshe would think this is normal—a man getting into her personal space and expecting…anything from her.

But mostly, there’s fury at myself.

This isexactlywhy I’ve shut down anythoughtof Ava, regardless of the fact that I’ve felt a pull to her since that first night in the club: it leads to distractions. This morning I was weak, and I let her kiss me, then I kissed her and held her and touched her and it twisted every single thought and action thereafter. It made it so when she asked me to go with Anne, I wanted to do whatever would make her happy, rather than whatever I needed to do to make sure she wasprotected.

“This morning should have never happened.” It feels wrong to say it, considering every moment of having her in my arms, my lips on hers felt more right than anything I’d ever experienced. I don’t turn to her when her head snaps to look at me, but I feel the burn of her glare all the same.

“What are you talking about?”

“I shouldn’t have kissed you this morning,” I say, then the elevator doors open and I step out, waiting for her to follow.

She steps out of the elevator and crosses her arms on her chest, glaring at me. “I kissed you,” she says, and I sigh deeply.

“Ava, you know what I mean. We shouldn’t have kissed this morning.”

“Why not? We’re two consenting adults, Jaime.”

“Because I’m here to keep you safe, Ava, and today you weren’t. In this job, you can’t have distractions, and you are the biggest distraction known to man. My being distracted led to this afternoon, and I won’t let that happen again.”

She stares at me for long moments, assessing, before she shakes her head. “I never thought you’d be the type to get scared off too easily,” she whispers.

“I was terrified,” I reply quickly, my voice just as low.

“What?”

“I wasterrified,Ava. I’ve never been as scared in my entire life than when I saw that man reach for you, and I’ve seen some fucked-up shit. I was terrified, and it’s all my fault. If I were there the entire time, it wouldn’t have happened. If I wasn’t so twisted up in the idea of you, I would have used my head and known I needed to be there for you. But I wasn’t, and it was because I was too worried about keeping you happy than I was keeping you safe, and look how that ended.” Her eyes go a bit soft, her shoulder relaxing as she reaches out to touch me, but I step back out of reach.

“Jaime,” she says.

“I’m serious. It was a bad idea. I never want to feel again how I felt in that room, and I especially never want to see the look of panic in your eyes. You want to hate me because I won’t give into whatever there is between us? Then hate me. But at least you’ll be safe,” I say, staring at her, letting her see everything behind my walls.

Everything I feel.

Everything Ican'tfeel.

“So you’re saying there’s something,” she whispers, and I sigh for what feels like the hundredth time.

But before I can say anything to further dissuade her, the elevator dings once more, sliding open, someone standing there and stepping off, breaking the moment. With that, I step forward, grab Ava's hand in mine, and lead her to our room.

The entire time, all I can think isyou are so fucked.

TWENTY-EIGHT

JAIME

"What the fuck happened yesterday?" The voice booms through the line early the next morning. It's seven a.m., and Ava is still asleep as I try to get out onto the balcony without her waking.

"Greg—" I start, sliding the door closed behind me. I've already worked out in an effort to quiet my mind after the chaos that was yesterday and gotten coffee, so two hours of peace without dealing with my asshole of a boss has to be a win.

"What thefuckhappened, Wilde?" he shouts.

"Look—"

"This isnotwhat we need happening right now," he says, continuing to steamroll over me.

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