It had been two weeks since she had heard anything from Reese, and she wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she felt hurt and rejected. After how sweet he had been, turning up on her doorstep with pizza, making her breakfast. Maybe that was just his thing. Perhaps he felt some guilt and breakfast was his payment for sex. August was so out of the loop, she wasn’t sure how people behaved after these kinds of things. She had just expected he would call her inside a few days.

“I’m going to call around and see Davina after work. If you’d like to come?” Mercy called from her doorway.

“No, I’m going to stay back and finish this report. I’m almost done with it,” she said looking at her stack of paperwork. Everything was done. She had the photo evidence she needed to prove the suspect was, in fact, visiting with his best friend’s wife across town.

“Okay. Hey, have you heard from Reese?”

“No, why?” August glanced at her phone, which lay idle on her desk. Could her friend read her mind?

“I was just wondering, that’s all. I tried to call him last night, and he didn’t pick up.”

August shrugged. In a way, it made her feel better. At least it wasn’t just her he was ignoring.

“Okay, well, see you tomorrow. Don’t stay too late.”

“See you,” August called after her boss as she watched her leave. Leaning back in her chair she stared at her report. She wasn’t going to get it finished tonight. Her mind was elsewhere. Why had he not called her? He said he’d call. She was angry. Perhaps if he did call now, she would give him a piece of her mind.

Switching off her computer, she gathered her things and made her way for the exit. The building would be locked and she would have to get the security guard to let her out if she waited any longer. Perhaps she would go home and run a nice, hot bath.

Reaching the glass door on the ground floor, she checked to make sure she had everything she needed. She would drop by the grocer on the way home and pick up some fresh ingredients. As much as she loved pizza, she couldn’t eat it another night this week. Clutching her purse, she unzipped it to check for change, thinking she would pick up a cucumber and lettuce.

“Hey, watch where you’re going there, beautiful,” she heard his voice with no time to stop as she collided with the rock-hard chest.

“Reese,” she whispered, full of shock. “Where did you come from? What are you doing here?”

His chest reverberated as he chucked and she realised she had not moved out of his space. Taking a step back she looked up into his face. Dark sunglasses shielded his eyes, and she wished she could see them. He was still in uniform, which made her think he might be there on official business. Perhaps he was not there to see her at all.

With this realisation, she felt heat creep up her chest. She had made a fool of herself, thinking he was interested in having any kind of relationship with her. What would make her think it could ever work anyway?

Moving to the right, she attempted to push past him. Clearly, they had nothing to say to each other. He’d got what he wanted. It was time to move on.

“I came to see you, August.” Reese grabbed her upper arm, stopping her in her tracks.

“Well, I’m finished for the day. If it’s work related, you will need to come back during business hours,” she spat out, trying to keep the hurt from her tone.

“It’s not work related. It’s us related.”

“There is no us, Reese. We might have been starting something, but then what? Radio silence. Do you just expect me to sit by the phone waiting for you to call?”

“You could have called me,” he tried.

“You said you were going to call me.” She stared hard at him, still unable to see his eyes. She hated when people didn’t remove their glasses to make eye-contact.

“Can I at least explain?” he asked, finally pushing his glasses up to his head. What she saw in his eyes she couldn’t quite explain. “For the first few days after I saw you, I was flat out at work. I had a tonne of paperwork after the incident, plus I had to answer questions myself.

I had hoped to get all of that out of the way and then come and see you on the weekend. Then Kelsey turned up.”

“Kelsey? As in your wife, Kelsey?”

“Yes, as in my ex-wife, Kelsey,” he nodded sadly. “You know what happened with us. You know we haven’t seen each other in a long time.”

August’s blood ran cold. She didn’t want to hear what was coming next. She had finally let down her guard enough to let someone close, and now he was running back to his ex-wife.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Reese.” She again tried to push past him, wanting desperately to get away.

“She wanted some stuff from the house and to finalise the divorce proceedings. She has met someone else and wants to remarry. Please, August I want you to understand. For the longest time, I believed if she ever came back to me, we could work things out. I felt like we never really had a chance after we lost Danica.”

“Why are you telling me all of this, Reese?”

“Because seeing Kelsey again made me realise I don’t want that in my life anymore. It made me realise I don’t love her anymore. I should be following my heart, and my heart leads me to you, August.”

August moved back, pushing herself against the wall and giving her some space. Her mind reeling with Reese’s confession.

“Me?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes, my heart wants you, August.”

“Perhaps that’s the problem with the world today. People just go around following their hearts, when they should be listening to their heads instead. The heart is stupid. It will tell you things you want to believe. It’s the head,” she tapped the side of her head with her index finger. “It’s the head that knows the real truth.

People break each other’s hearts all the time. They treat them like they are disposable objects and they’re not. You only get one, and I’m not sure that once it's broken it ever properly mends again. That’s why people should only ever listen to their heads. Not their stupid hearts.”

“So what does that mean?” Reese tilted his head to the right. “You’re never going to allow yourself to love someone, out of fear they might break your heart? That’s a pretty lonely way to live don’t you think?”

August shrugged. “At least it’s safe. If I don’t allow myself to be vulnerable, then you can’t hurt me. Simple.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, August. I realise nothing is guaranteed in life, and sometimes shit’s just going to hurt anyway. What if taking the leap is worth the risk? What if we go on to have an amazing life because we took the chance and it paid off?”

“What if we don’t? I won’t miss what I never had.”

He took another step closer, moving into her space, and she wasn’t sure whether to stand still or run. Her heart was telling her to stay, and for once she was listening to it. What he was saying made perfect sense. What if the risk was worth it? Here was a chance for her to find some happiness, to share her life with someone that she liked. Would it be so bad to allow her stance to soften and let someone love her?

“You say that. You push people away, and most of them don’t bother coming back because it’s too hard. They move on to something easier.”

“So, why aren’t you doing that? Why aren’t you moving on, to something easier?” she asked with a shakiness in her voice that she couldn’t hide.

“Because I see you, August. Because I see what’s underneath your hard shell. I can see your fear. I know you don’t want to be alone, but you want to protect yourself. I want to crawl under that hard, outer shell that you hide behind and get to know you better.”

“And how do you know I’m soft underneath?” she whispered.

“Because you’re not pushing me away.” He placed a warm palm on her cheek, and she leaned into it. “Because I can feel the warmth when I’m with you. I can see it in your eyes, in your smile, in the tender moments we share together. I want to be with you. My heart wants to be with you, and my head does, too.”

When his lips met hers she knew she couldn’t fight it anymore, she didn’t want to. She had fallen in love with Reese Tucker.