Page 72 of Holiday Friend Zones
Our lips meet.
It’s supposed to be a quick, chaste kiss performatory for show.Instead, the second his mouth brushes mine, my heart stutters and then races, faster than it ever has.His hand finds the curve of my jaw, warm even through his glove, and the kiss lingers.Gentle at first, then deeper, like we’ve both forgotten there’s an audience.His lips are softer than I imagined they’d be, sure and unhurried, and he’s a good kisser—too good—every tilt of his mouth stealing the air from my lungs and making my knees weaken beneath me.
I’m the one who pulls back, breathless, the noise of the crowd rushing in too loud.My fingers tremble around the crumpled scavenger list.
“Ave….”Liam searches my face, eyes dark, lips parted.For one terrifying second, I think he’s going to say something—something that can’t be unsaid.
“I—uh—need air,” I blurt, though there’s plenty of it swirling cold around us.
Before he can answer, I slip through the crowd, heart pounding, the taste of him still on my lips.
And that’s when I see Derek.
Leaning against the coffee cart, cup in hand, watching me with a half-smile that used to undo me.
My stomach knots.Liam’s kiss is still burning in my chest, and Derek’s gaze feels like a trap.I don’t know which way is safer or if safe has anything to do with it anymore.
I freeze halfway across the square, heart still tripping from Liam’s mouth on mine when Derek pushes off the coffee cart and walks toward me.
“Ava,” he says, voice warm, familiar in a way that makes my stomach tighten.He’s bundled in a dark coat, his hair slicker than I remember with that same easy smile on his face—the one I used to mistake for charm before I knew better.“Didn’t think I’d run into you here.”
I force my shoulders back, tugging my scarf higher like armor.“I came back for Christmas.It’s a small town.Hard not to run into someone you know.”
“Fair,” he says with a low laugh.
His eyes sweep over me, sharp and assessing.“You look good, Ava.City life must agree with you.How are you liking living in Boston?”
“I like it very much,” I say, wishing my pulse wasn’t still skittering from Liam.
He nods toward the gazebo where people are still buzzing about the kiss.“So that was…unexpected.”
I follow his gaze, my throat tightening to where Liam is standing surrounded by neighbors slapping him on the back like he just won the Super Bowl.He’s trying to be polite, but his eyes are on me.On Derek.
“Still friends with Carter, huh?”His tone is light, but I hear the bite under it.
“We’ve always been friends,” I say evenly, though my voice catches on the word friends.
He tilts his head, watching me like he’s searching for cracks.“Well, maybe we should catch up while you’re in town.Grab coffee?Just the two of us.Like old times.”
The invitation hangs there, cold and sharp, but before I can tell him I’m in now way interested, Liam reaches us, his presence sliding in beside me like he belongs at my side.He doesn’t say anything to Derek but the heat in his gaze says plenty.
And suddenly, I’m not sure if I’ve forgotten how to breathe.
ChapterEight
LIAM
Idon’t hear half of what Mrs.McAllister’s saying when she congratulates me again.My eyes are locked on Ava.Or more specifically, on Ava standing with Derek Harper, coffee cup in his hand and that smug tilt to his smile.Fuck, I hate that guy.
I know that smile.I know what it cost her last time.And the fact that he’s back, circling her like he’s entitled to another shot, has my blood running hotter than it should, considering she’s never been mine.
By the time I cut across the snow, Ava looks…cornered.Her scarf pulled tight.Her arms crossed like a shield.Derek leans in anyway, talking low, too close, and way too fucking familiar.
“Still friends with Carter, huh?”I catch the end of his sentence.
Ava’s chin lifts.“We’ve always been friends.”
Friends.The word hits harder than I want it to.
