“I love it when you scream for me,” I whisper the words into her ear through heavy breathing, the sweet taste of her still fresh in my mouth. I pull down the covers with a violent yank and land us both on the cool sheets. Our bodies are putting out enough heat to set the room ablaze. Lex pants, staring up at the ceiling with a dead gaze, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to ask her how she’s feeling just yet. I know for damn sure she loved what just happened. Her body shook so hard for a second I thought she was having a seizure. And judging by the way she struggled to pluck my hair out at the temples, the way her knees clamped down over my head assured me of a job well done. In truth, I didn’t want it to end. If there was an option to make it last forever, I would have locked in on it a long time ago. I missed this. I missed her. I missed the girls bouncing as my body pumped into hers. I missed those noises she makes, those throaty whimpers that drive me wild. And now I’ve got everything back if only for a night.

I pull her up and strip off her dress, unhook her bra, and send it sailing across the room. Lex pulls her arms over her chest in a weak attempt to cover herself before growling at me and relaxing back on the bed.

“Take off your clothes,” she barks out the command, and I’m quick to comply. I unbutton my shirt laboriously slow, taking it off as if it were my job. She gives my boxers a yank as if to say move it along, and I slip them off and strip down to my birthday suit, kneeling beside her on the bed, affording her an eyeful.

“Recognize anything you like?”

“I see that my ex-boyfriend has adhered to a prison-worthy workout. Nice abs, Collins.” Her eyes flit down to my crotch for a moment. “And it looks as if your man parts finally caught up with your ego.”

“I didn’t realize you thought so little of me.” I land next to her, my face next to her chest, still heaving, and my gaze latches onto her nipples.

“My eyes are up here.”

“I don’t care where your eyes are, sweetheart.” My mouth starts in on a sucking spree that starts on those pillow soft mounds and works its way down her torso. Lex has always needed me to feed her caustic words. The more I volleyed her sarcasm right back at her, the more she opened up to me—the more it solidified who we were. Lex needs those words to come back curt, dismissive, and as much as I’ve always thought of them like a game, I think in this new reincarnation of our relationship we should evolve, progress to that next level—to sweet words, the tender words I’ve craved to say to her for as far back as the day we met.

I love her like that with my mouth, taking my time over her honeyed flesh. I make a game of it as I reach her belly button, and she writhes and gasps below me. I inch down her thighs, running my tongue up and down each one as if they were dipped in sugar. I make love to her knees, her perfectly smooth legs before making my way to her feet. Lex jumps and giggles—nothing she’s proud of, I’m sure. Giggling has always been somewhat beneath her, and it’s something I’ve secretly enjoyed about her. Her toes are painted bright pink like candy, and I take a healthy bite of each of them before sucking them down.

“Oh, gross. Would you knock that off? Leave my feet alone.” She does her best to kick my shoulder with her knee. “Is the foot fetish something new? Because it’s not an improvement.” I run my tongue over the back of her sole, and she lets out a hearty groan. She slides her other foot beside me. “In the least don’t make this one feel like an orphan.”

A laugh thunders through my chest as I oblige her. I take my time making my way back up, burying a kiss in that dark triangle before dotting a line of kisses from her belly to her shoulders. There’s not a thing in the world that should be rushed with this girl.

I reach up and take a gentle bite of her ear. “I was born to worship you. I’m positive about that.”

She averts her gaze as if the thought nauseated her on some level. “You put in quite the performance tonight.”

My arms circle her warm body as I pull her close to me and we lie side by side. “I didn’t have to try. It came naturally to me.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you turn pro. About how many women did it take for that to happen?”

A soft laugh rumbles through us both.

“Aha, laughter.” I dot her nose with a kiss. “Finally, a crack in the armor.”

“I’ll deny it in the light of day.” Her eyes spark as if they were readying to ignite. “I’ll deny all of this.” Lex has always had the ability to look like a porcelain doll, albeit one you might be a little afraid of, but there is an innocence to her beauty. And that hair. I dig my fingers into the back of her mane. Her hair has been a silent third entity in our relationship since the beginning. Those dark crimson curls have always shook themselves my way, teasing me, taunting me, making me want her on an entirely different level.

“That’s okay. You keep lighting up my nights and I’ll let you deny it all you want.”

Lex bites down over her lip with those glowing white teeth. “I suggest you brace yourself for the fall because this was a one-off that I have no intention of repeating.”

I grunt at the thought. “That’s funny. I don’t see you bolting out of my bedroom.” My hands swivel down her back before I dig my fingers into her luscious soft hips. The last thing I want to do is incite her to collect her things and take off.

“That’s because I’m not done tormenting you.” Her finger glides down my nose before tracing out my lips. “I’ll have you beg once I’m ready.”

“Sounds like a solid plan.” I’m up for begging. Hell, I’m up for barking like a dog if she wants me to. There is nothing I won’t do for another round with the love of my life. That’s what I really want to tell her. That, and the words I love you. I need her to hear it before she leaves no matter where it might lead us. I remember where it led us the last time.

“What should we do while we wait?” I pull her in closer and bury a kiss on her neck. “Spoon? Snuggle?”

Lex belts out a laugh, and her tits press tight into my chest, springing my hard-on back to life.

“Easy, Collins.” She grazes me with her knee. “We’re going to talk.” She pulls back a notch as her expression grows increasingly serious. “I want you to tell me.” Her eyes turn glassy, and I’m half-afraid we’ve made a turn we might not recover from. “What happened to Emilia?”

“Emilia.” I tip my head back as I say my sister’s name with relief for the first time in months. A hard breath expires from me as that tragic accident bounces through my mind. “We lost her just after Christmas. It’s been really tough.” My torso hiccups with grief, and now it’s Lex pulling me in close.

“I’m so very sorry. I can’t imagine the pain you and your family must have gone through. I’m sure it was unbearable.” Lex is transformed by her own grief. Her bottom lip quivers between us, and I lean in and press a simple kiss over her just to quell the pain.

“Still is most days,” I whisper. A sense of tragic sadness weighs me down. Here it was, Emilia’s death that has brought on the first serious conversation between Lex and me.

“May I ask what happened? I mean, I don’t want to pry or gouge open any wounds, but I cared about her.” Lex covers her face and vibrates with quiet tears.

“Hey, it’s okay. I know she cared about you, too. If it makes you feel better, she didn’t talk to me for a month after we split up. I think she may have liked you a little more than me.”

A tiny laugh trails through her. “She was smart.” Lex pulls back with black muddy trails tracking down her cheeks. “What happened to my beautiful friend?”

My heart warms as she says it. Lex has always been a self-proclaimed hermit who only had a heart for blood relations and then only some of those. She once told me that Emilia was her first real friend and she wore that like a badge. She loved my sister. I knew that. I still do.

“She fell.” I shrug because there is no other explanation really. “She went on a hike with her boyfriend—a walking tour about a mile beyond the overlook in Hollow Brook. It had just finished raining, and her foot caught on a branch. She tripped and sailed over a steep embankment—about twenty-five feet. That’s all. Hit her temple on a sharp rock, closed her eyes, and never opened them again. I was at the office with my father and Shep—got a hysterical phone call from Teagan. Tom, her boyfriend, didn’t really have any of our numbers. He was pretty new to the scene. But Teagan had sent Emilia and him a group text—a picture of her headed to a winter dance at school so he knew to call. We took off for the hospital, but she was already gone. Life turned inside out, and it was hell.” I close my eyes, and Lex presses my face to hers by the back of my neck.

We sit there, our noses locked together, our lips lying over one another as our silent hot tears conjoin into one.

“I’m so sorry, Ax. I’m so very, very sorry.” Her lips find mine, and we start in on a slow, delicious kiss that feels more medicinal than it does anything else. For sure it’s not one of those angry kisses we indulged in back in the kitchen. Gone is all the fury, the resentment over what we lost, what we could have been. This was a perfectly mild kiss, penetrating to the core with hope of a beautiful future.

She pulls back, her face glossed with tears, her eyes so red they’re unrecognizable. “Did you think of calling me?”

“I don’t have your number, Lex.” I shake my head. “I tried to find you, but you’ve covered your tracks so well I would have bet you slipped into the witness protection program. Heck, you did a fantastic job of protecting your privacy.”

She gives a wry smile. “I am rather stealth.”

“And stingy with your whereabouts.” I give her hip a light pinch, and she bucks with a quiet laugh. “But I’m glad I found you.” My eyes rake over her features in hope of a hint that she might feel the same. “Are you glad you found me?” There. I said it. For as desperate as it sounds, I really do want an answer.

Lex takes a quivering breath somewhere between tears, regret, and relief. “I was about twenty minutes ago. And I most likely will in about another hour.” She cocks her head to the side and offers up a quick wink. “But prior to this, I pretty much blamed you for the current disarray in my life. You do realize it was you who caused me to bolt from The Sloppy Pelican last spring and send Harlow Walking Disaster Hartley in instead. Everything went to holy heck after that. I lost my job. I gained two friends.” She head-butts me lightly with that last one, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Friends never were your forte.”

“And now one of the she-devils is living with me while the other one is making me wear frilly taffeta in just a couple of weeks. Friends are a hazard I’ve spent my entire life avoiding.” She slaps me over the ass with some muscle behind the action. “And it’s all your fault.”

“If my actions led to tonight, I’m guilty as charged.” I dip a kiss into that soft spot just below her ear. “And I plan on becoming a repeat offender.” My hands drip down her thighs, melting into her skin as if I had the ability to become a part of her.

“Repeat offender, huh?” A dirty laugh brews in her chest. Her eyes widen with delight as if this is the banter she’s craved all along, something with a hint of crudeness that leads to the promise land for the both of us. “You do realize I have a brother who would love to see you arrested.”

A horrid groan escapes me at the thought of Marlin Maxfield. “Did you have to drag your brother into this? Marlin hates me, and you know it.”

“I do know it. And you do realize this brings me great pleasure.” She outright giggles into me like a schoolgirl, and I can’t help but shed an ear-to-ear grin.

“You know I love it when you’re happy.”

Her mouth opens as she gasps. I had done the unthinkable, invoked the L word—the pinprick in our helium balloon.

“Don’t.” She presses a finger over my lips. “You’re no longer allowed to speak for the night.” She leans in and takes a healthy bite from my shoulder, eliciting a roar of a moan from me. “I’m ready for you to have me now.” She gives my leg a few quick taps. “Nice and slow to begin with, then hard and aggressive like you mean it. I want my hair tugged once when I least expect it, and do that little thing with your tongue before you’re through.” She dips her finger into my mouth and bites down a smile. “And if you play your cards right, I might let you tell me what to do in the morning. After all, you are the boss.”

A hopeful smile percolates on my lips. “I think we both know who the boss is around here. But as for tomorrow morning—expect to be on top.” My teeth graze over her ear. “On all fours.” I run my tongue up the side of her face in a heated line, and she shivers beneath me. “And most importantly on your knees.”

Lex shakes with a laugh, and I cover her mouth with mine, drowning out that sound leaving her body to express the sentiment. Lex and I make love slowly at first, just the way she instructed, then something fiercer, darker, deeper, longer, stronger.

Lex always did have impeccable taste and timing. Lucky for me, her appetite for my body hasn’t waned a bit. If I’m truly lucky, her hunger will linger long enough for her to realize that I’m one meal she’ll need regularly for the rest of her life.

We wrestle long into the night, well past those early morning hours and straight through to sunup. We hold one another as the sun rises and fills the room with the peachy glow of another blessed day. It feels like the first day of the rest of our lives.

* * *

Sleep has never felt so thick, so delicious, so very necessary. Both Lex and I moan in tandem as our lids flutter at the very same time.

“Hey, beautiful.” I lean in and steal a kiss.

“I look like a witch.” She scoots in and wraps her limbs around me, and just the feel of her heated flesh pressed up against mine makes my skin quiver as if attempting to drink her down.

“You look like a goddess.” I graze my teeth over her ear. “One I’m gearing up to properly worship.” I rub my blooming hardness over her thigh. “But first I have a gift for you.”

“Hmm.” She gives a playful laugh. “I wonder what that could be? Let me guess. You’re going to feed me breakfast.” Her knee grazes my balls ever so gently.

“You’re crude, you know that?” A dull laugh dies in my chest as I lean over to the nightstand and pull out a small velvet box with a disheveled bow and hand it to her.

“What’s this?” She hikes up on her elbows, eyeing the curiosity as if it were a scorpion. “My God, do you give all of your one-night stands a parting gift? You’re a real prince, you know that?”

“I might be a prince, but to answer your question, no. That’s just a little something I’ve hauled around with me from move to move for the last six years. We broke up before Christmas.” I take a deep breath at the thought. “Remember? Anyway, that was your Christmas gift. It’s a little overdue.”

“Oh?” She sits up in bed until I’m eye level with the girls. Lex has never been shy about her body, and dear Lord, she doesn’t have a reason to be. “If this is an engagement ring, I’m going to say no.” She bites down over a smile while stealing a moment to glance at me.

“It’s not an engagement ring.” I frown up at her playfully. “But now that I see how much pleasure the prospect of turning me down brings you, the next gift just might be.”

My phone buzzes over the nightstand, but I choose to ignore it. Whoever it is will have to wait until later, until tomorrow if I’m lucky. I’ll do every acrobatic stunt in the book to keep Lex locked in my bedroom.

She plucks at the old worn bow and peels the box back, exposing a frail gold necklace with a pendant attached with three shiny Xs attached in a row. “Oh my goodness! Triple X!” She gasps, pulling it to her chest with delight. Triple X was what I called her in private. But Lex did her part too and lived up to the moniker. “I love it!” Her feet kick at the sheets in an airborne version of the happy dance. “Help me get it on.” She hands me the box, and I carefully free the necklace from it and clasp it around her neck.

Lex holds the tiny pendant out, examining it from a new vantage point.

I brush a kiss over her hip before sitting up next to her. “I always knew it was all you would ever have to wear. It’s perfect on you.”

A laugh bubbles from her as she opens her arms and pulls me down on top of her. Lex is smiling right down to her toes, her golden eyes, each with a laugh of their own.

“Lex,” I whisper right over her lips. I can feel the words bubbling up inside me, begging to jet on out. “I love you. I still love you.” I dot her lips with a kiss. “I never did stop.”

A gasp gets locked in her throat, and she flattens her palms over my chest. Just as she’s about to either slap or deck me—probably both, the hard thump of a fist pounds over the front door.

“What in the hell.” I land a kiss at her temple before jumping into my pants and heading for the door. “Wait here.”

The pounding intensifies, and the doorbell goes off in spasms. The doorman would never let a madman through those gates, but then again, my phone did ring. Worst-case scenario—a madman made it past him, and he tried to warn me.

I peer through the peephole and spot an officer dressed in uniform, the magnification of the tiny hole barrels his chest out a little too much. He leans in, and the stubble on his face comes at me so fast I back up.

Lex ambles into the room and speeds next to me, desperately trying to button the dress shirt I wore last night. It’s a good look on her, and I can’t help but give a lopsided grin at the sight. “Who is it?” she hisses. Her nose does this cute little twitch that opens the floodgates to a thousand different memories, and all I want to do is carry her back to that bedroom.

“It’s a cop. I’d better see what he wants.” Just as my hand goes for the lock, the door thumps to life again.

“You in there, Lex?” a deep voice thunders from the other side. “Don’t make me beat this door down.”

Shit. My adrenaline skyrockets. “You know this guy? Is this some amped up ex of yours?”

“No.” She taps her hands in the air as if motioning for me to keep it down. “It’s my amped up big brother.” She hides her face in her hands a moment. “I forgot all about meeting him for coffee this morning.”

“Big brother—Marlin?” Crap. It’s been years since we last had the misfortune to meet, but something tells me it wasn’t long enough.

More pounding ensues, this time with the threat of taking me downtown.

“I guess I should let him in.” I unhook the lock, and Lex presses her body against the door. Her lips quiver as she looks up at me with fright.

“Have you lost your freaking mind? He’s going to kill us. You first, then me!”

The door pulsates with each thunderous bang. “Lex? I can hear you for shit’s sake. Open the damn door before I beat it down!”

I’m not sure what happened next. Either I twisted the knob or Lex hit it just right with her hip or Marlin just got lucky because the door cracks open and his foot is suddenly wedged inside.

“Oh my God!” Lex jumps away from the door as if it morphed into a snake. And just like that, Marlin spills into the room clad in blue. The shiny silver badge on his chest proves that he’s the real deal. Jepson PD. Who would have thought that after all these years he and I were just a hair away from meeting up again? And, unfortunately, it wasn’t some run-of-the-mill speeding ticket that reconnected our paths. It’s the fact Lex overslept in my bed.

Marlin is basically Lex in male skin, far more aggressive, both arms riddled with tats, his biceps bulging as if silently promising me a broken nose, leg, and arm before he takes off.

His eyes ride up and down his sister in disappointment. “Go get some clothes on,” he growls as he refocuses his attention back on me. “I’m probably going to kill you,” he says it flat like a fact. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it look like an accident. No reason to embarrass either Lex or me in the situation.” A menacing smile flinches on his lips. “The only decision I need to make is whether or not I want to make it quick and painless or slow and agonizing as hell. I vote for the latter.”

He lunges at me, and I pull him in by the shirt, launching him across the room.

“Marlin—mind your weapon!” Lex shrills so loud the veins in her neck jump like livewires.

“You’re right.” He takes off his belt, dumping it along with his gun onto the coffee table before pouncing on me like a wild tiger.

This isn’t your standard Jepson PD procedure. This is fist in your face, knee up your ass personal.

He bashes my head into the wood floor like bouncing a ball. “You piece of shit!” He offers up a couple of kidney punches, and Lex screams and threatens to break a vase over his head. And instead of fighting back, I try to figure out where the hell Lex will get a vase because I’m one hundred percent certain I don’t own one. But in the truth, I don’t want to be the bad guy here. I just crawled back into Lex’s life. There’s no way in hell I’m letting Marlin boot me out. And if I fracture his skull like I’m leaning toward, it might just do that.

He lands hard over my back, his heavy breathing clotting up my ear. “I’m going to make sure you never screw another living thing again.”

I can feel his knee retract.

“That’s it.” I twist out of range and land my fist over his jaw, connecting time after time as if he were a punching bag. My foot digs into his gut, and I kick him across the floor until he butts against the sofa with an ugh expelling from him.

I’m slow to look up and meet with Lex’s beautiful eyes, half-afraid it’ll be the last time I see them.

Her fists are balled into her hips, and she’s shaking her head at me.

“It’s about time you grew a pair.” She reaches down and offers me a hand as I get up on my feet. “For a second there, I thought you were enjoying it.”

“I didn’t want to hurt your brother.” I pull her in and bury my face in her neck a moment, still struggling to catch my breath.

Marlin crawls to his feet, using the couch for support. “You didn’t hurt me.” He looks to Lex, and a thick moment of silence bounces between them. “But he will hurt you. I can’t believe you’re going back for seconds. Wasn’t once enough?” He’s speaking tenderly, the way you would a distraught soul about to take a fatal plunge. “Don’t do it, Lex. You deserve better than this. You’re special, and he has a habit of forgetting that.”

My stomach clenches. With everything in me, I know that’s not true, but I don’t want to fall into Marlin’s bear trap and have to chew my way out with a bunch of truths I’m not sure Lex is ready to believe. That’s a conversation we need to have in private. For sure not with her brother in the peanut gallery ready to refute any and everything I have to say. Nope. Not going there.

Her arm tightens around my waist. “This isn’t anything,” she barks it out so convincingly my stomach is right back to tensing up in a knot for far more nefarious reasons. “We’re not serious.” Her hand floats to that triple X necklace I just gifted her, and she fingers it as if it were a life raft. “I’m in control, Marlin. And what the heck is this, I’ll huff and puff and blow your doors down routine? I’m not amused. Yes, I missed meeting you for coffee. Yes, you probably sent a million text messages I didn’t see, but does that really justify what went on here? How the heck did you find me, anyway?”

His eyes enlarge with rage. “That roommate of yours made it real easy. And since when did you get a roommate, anyway? How many more things about your life don’t I know about, Lex? Anything else you’d like to spring on me while dressed in last night’s clothes? Hell, it’s not even your shirt.”

Her mouth opens and closes, and she clenches her knees together as if just remembering her scantily clad state.

“We’ll do lunch this week. I promise.” She scuttles up and presses a quick kiss to his cheek, but he turns his head slightly as if repulsed from any physical contact with her in this less than chaste state.

“Make it dinner. I’m on days all week. And yes, I know you work nights at that—that ridiculous bar this twerp owns.” He darts an accusing finger at me. Twerp? He’s lucky I don’t shove him out the window and call him a twerp all the way down. “That new roommate of yours sang like a canary.” He heads for his belt and straps his weaponry back into place. “And why the hell didn’t you tell me you had some nut job orchestrating a PETA protest in front of your home?”

Lex groans. “Son of a motherless goat, why did Stumpy have to drag PETA into this?” She rolls her head back and moans as she walks Marlin to the door. “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.”

“Too bad, I’m calling,” he snaps as he crests the threshold. “We need to talk about Serena. Or have you forgotten that family comes first?”

Her spine straightens as she stiffens. Ever since Lex’s mother ran out on them, she’s taken on the role of primary caretaker. Her father passed a while back, and she’s been mothering not only her sister and Marlin—even though he’s too much of a douche to admit it, but she had taken her cousins, Rush and Sunday, under her wing. Nolan, their brother, is about my age. I’ve known him for a while. Good guy. But in the last six years, I’m sure Rush and Sunday have grown up. I figure they’re in college themselves about now. This is the first time in Lex’s life that she gets to focus on herself—and hopefully, she’ll make a little room for me in the equation.

“Family comes first,” she repeats as she starts to shut the door.

“Hey, Collins!” Marlin shouts as she proceeds to entomb us inside. “I know where you live now. You better watch your back.”

“Nice,” I say, twisting the lock as soon as Lex seals the door shut. “Which one of us ordered a beating for brunch?” I tease, peppering her neck with kisses.

Lex pulls me back, tears glittering in her eyes, and my gut coils right back into that knot again.

“Hey”—my arms steady her by the shoulders—“I’m sorry I hurt your brother. I had no intention of doing so. Things just got out of hand. In no way did I—”

“Stop.” Her finger bounces over my lips, and I pull her in close again. “Marlin is right. What am I doing here?” She holds out her hands, confused as if she just materialized into the room. “I’m not the girl who sleeps with guys on a whim. I should never have had a drop of wine last night. I’m so stupid to think we could do what we did and there not be any repercussions. It’s going to be awkward now.” She drops her face in her hands and takes a hard sniff before coming back up for air. “I’ll try to get another waitressing position somewhere else.”

“No.” A rife panic sets in, and suddenly it’s as if my feet were to the flames. I’ve had Lex in my life for less than five minutes, and already she’s anxious to slip away. I can’t lose her twice. I couldn’t bear the torment. I almost didn’t survive the first time. I sure as hell won’t the second. “I’ll go somewhere else. You keep your job at The Sloppy Pelican.” I wince because I just so happened to rig it that I can’t be anywhere else. “Or you can simply go back to giving me the cold shoulder. But what I’m really hoping for is that we can have a sit-down. It doesn’t have to be now. I just—I need—”

“Closure.” She gives a curt nod as if demanding that I agree with her.

“No, I don’t need or want anything to do with that word. I need you. I need you back, Lex. I need things the way they were between us.” I’m pleading like a pussy, and I don’t really give a shit. “I need you, Lex. We’re good together. We fit. I get you, and you get me. The reason neither of us had a relationship in the last six years is because there’s nobody else out there for us. It’s you and me, ride or die. And I don’t want to ride or die without you.” My hand glides over her hair, and I memorize the soft silk of her waves, too afraid she’ll keep them away from me forever.

Lex steps back, peeling my limbs off her one by one. Her features turn to stone, that lively affect of hers all but a memory. “We’re not together.” She looks right past me as she says it. “This was a fluke, and it won’t happen again. There will be no personal conversations, no dates, no rolling around the sheets, and for God’s sake, no relationship.” She says that last part as if she were incredulous at the thought.

“Funny, you weren’t so repulsed by me last night.” Our eyes lock in a standoff. The gloves are off, and I’m ready to go twelve rounds. Hell, I want to. “You love me, Lex. You’re too afraid of losing control to give us another try. Let me in, Lex. Give us another chance.”

“You’re the one who loses control!” She drills her finger over my chest. “That’s your role in this disaster, remember?”

I close my eyes because it’s too hard to fight her on it. “Lex, as much as I don’t want to drag the past into this”—rage rockets through me, and I thunder at the top of my lungs—“that’s not what happened!”

She takes a quick breath. Her face grows pale, and for a second I want nothing more than to rewind the last ten seconds.

Lex takes a step in, her eyes seething with a newfound hatred for me. “Don’t you ever raise your voice to me again.”

“I raised my voice because I’m flat out frustrated that I can’t make you see the truth.”

Her shoulders sag, her entire person wilts into me a moment. For a brief second, gone is the ice queen that erects herself like some automatic response to rejection, pain, and hurt.

“I know,” she whispers. Her hand rises to my face, and for a moment I’m convinced she’s going to slap me, but instead, she pats my lips as if she were blind and needed to feel them in an effort to get to know them better. But my heart shatters to dust because deep down I know it’s her way of saying goodbye to them. “I’m so very sorry about Emilia. Be sure to tell Teagan I’ll help plan her party.” A lonely tear rolls down her face, and it knifes me to see it. “Don’t you ever speak to me again.”

She snatches her purse off the sofa and bolts out the door. No shoes, no pants, no underwear—I’m pretty certain. Nope. Lex Maxfield cannot get away from me fast enough.

Lex doesn’t want me to speak to her ever again.

It’s going to be a long, lonely, awful, hellish life without her.

And in no way will I ever accept it.