“Great, I’ve got you booked for Wednesday. Glad you liked the social promos. Yeah, use them anytime you want. Need anything else, you let me know. Otherwise see you next week.”

I stretched out my legs on the old desk in front of me that was already a mess of flyers, promotions, and posters. It helped to take the weight off my quilted Valentino pumps for a few minutes.

My office might’ve been a broom closet, but it was mine.

The only light came from a tiny window the size of a shoebox, but Trevor was on the corner of my desk. And he was green.

The job was harder than I’d expected. I took work home every day, and rarely did an hour pass when I wasn’t clueless about something. But I had a super power. I could figure shit out. And I could do it with a sense of humor.

It was scary because if I didn’t figure it out, it mattered. It mattered to the talent. To Jack, who’d started this place from scratch.

It felt good. I was living.

But what I couldn’t say to Payton, Riley, and Rose on ladies’ night—what I wouldn’t admit to anyone—was that my heart still hurt when I went to bed alone. Woke up that way.

I shifted out of my chair, adjusting the waist on my tight jeans with ripped knees before opening the door to the sound of laughter and supportive cheers.

Open mic Mondays were the most popular on LIVE’s schedule, although I was planning to bring in bands Wednesday nights to break up the week.

I grabbed a twelve-pack of beer from the back and hauled it toward the front. “You might be the best hire I’ve ever made.” Jack grinned his thanks as I dropped the case behind the bar.

“I’m the only hire you’ve ever made,” I shot back, scanning the room. The crowd was thick, people here to shake off a Monday or convince their friends to try out new material.

Payton, Max, and Riley occupied a table by the bar. I grabbed two bottles of beer and filled one glass with soda, depositing them on the table. “Friends. You came.”

Payton squealed and hugged me. “Of course! We needed to see your new workplace. I have to say, it’s way cooler than the old one.”

“I told her she shouldn’t be in a bar,” Max griped.

“Laughter’s good for fetal development,” Riley interrupted smoothly, reaching for his beer.

“Pull up a chair,” Payton called. I did. “So, Avery was looking pretty chummy with someone today at the office. A girl. She was pretty. Younger.”

My head snapped up.

“He introduced her as his sister.”

I sighed out a breath. “Kenna was at the office?”

“I didn’t even know he had a sister.” Payton cocked her head. “You were jealous,” she accused, the corner of her mouth twitching.

“I’m not jealous,” I grumbled. “I want him to be happy.”

“Happy alone.”

Riley raised a brow. “So you still have feelings for this guy.”

They stared at me.

“Yes. OK? Yes I still have feelings for him.”

“So why aren’t you getting him back?” Riley quipped.

I shifted out of my chair. “Who says I’m not?”

Riley grinned. Max shook his head. Payton gasped. “Charlie, what are you planning?”

“Nope. My break’s over, back to work. I’ll catch you guys in a bit.”

Payton groaned and Riley booed as I shoved out of my seat without giving them anything.

“Another newbie,” Jack commented as I brushed past him. I glanced toward the front as the first guy came off the stage and another replaced him.

The crowd gave the newcomer a round of cheers. Someone from the back shouted “Nice suit!” over the hearty applause as the guy settled in front of the microphone.

I had to grab the edge of the bar for support. In my peripheral vision I saw Payton’s head whip around.

Fuck. I said it in my head because I couldn’t form words.

The man at the mic didn’t have the same problem. He cleared his throat and wrapped his hand around the stand.

“Someone told me once that I have zero sense of humor.”

“What’s that guy doing?” Riley mused.

I folded my arms over my chest. “I have no idea.”

“Thing is, I didn’t see it. I thought I had everything I needed. The job I’d always wanted. People who listened to me. But life has a way of kicking you in the balls when you think you have it all figured out.

“See, one day, in walked this girl.”

He paused, and someone in the audience tittered nervously.

“I thought she worked for me, but she didn’t act like it. She stalked into my life on these damned heels and carried off my heart. I didn’t notice because she was so busy tearing strips off my ego. I mean, the woman shrank my shorts, for God’s sake.”

Someone laughed.

“What kind of woman does that?” Avery muttered, as if to himself. “But maybe I’m the problem, because I fell for her. Before this woman, I didn’t give a shit who I walked on to get what I wanted. But she changed that. Made me believe in things I never thought I’d believe in.”

The crowd watched, waited.

Avery shoved a hand through his hair, and my chest ached.

“And then…she left. She left, and all of a sudden everything I used to think was fine wasn’t fine. It’s still not. Which is why I’m here.” He lifted his chin, looking unseeing into the spotlights. “Charlotte? I hope to hell you’re working tonight, because otherwise this is going to be fucking awkward.”

“Charlie!” Payton hissed, slapping my ass.

I blinked, stumbling forward through the tables in a haze. Every set of eyes in the room went to me. But I only cared about one.

The recognition on his face when I appeared at the bottom of the stage had my heart stopping. I took the stairs up the side of the stage and stood before him while people started to murmur to each other in confusion.

“You were supposed to wait. Kenna and I were working on a plan.”

“My own sister betrayed me? When did she find the time?”

“I’ve been auditing her women’s studies class.”

“Louder!” someone hollered.

“Can we get off this stage?” he murmured.

“Yes please.”

I tugged him after me backstage while someone else took over the mic. The curtains blocked us from the lights and the laughter.

“How did you pull this off?”

“Payton and Mia might have helped.” I swore to kill them. Or thank them, depending on how this ended up.

“How are you?” he murmured. “They treating you OK here?”

“It’s hard work. But my boss is easy.”

The emotion in his face had my insides tingling. “I miss you every fucking day. Every part of you. Your smile, your clever brain, your smartass remarks.”

“Really?”

He shook his head. “I’m used to keeping things private, but the last two weeks I’ve been ready to hire a damned skywriter to tell the world you’re mine. I almost did it on the whiteboard in Jefferson the other day,” he added, a look of need in his eyes.

The laugh that bubbled up was giddy.

I took a deep breath. “You were right about something. I’ve been trying so hard to survive, I haven’t let myself live. I’m letting go of the past. In fact, I’m going to Jimmy’s wedding in a couple weeks.” I cocked my head. “Do you have any interest in a weekend trip to Canandaigua?”

“How did you know it was on my list of top places to visit?” he deadpanned. The serious face dissolved into a grin, and I couldn’t resist running my hand up his strong chest, looping my arms around his neck.

“You got funny while we were apart.”

“I got miserable while we were apart,” he murmured against my neck.

My chest ached, but this time it was in a good way. “Me too.”

“I’m fucking glad. I don’t want to be without you, Charlotte. It’s never been just sex. It was always you. You’re the only person in the world who could change my mind. Make me want what I never thought I’d have.”

“What’s that?”

“Trust. Caring. Love.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Love?”

His body was pressed against mine, and suddenly his words were competing with a thousand other sensations for my attention.

But he nodded. “I tried to give you space, but that’s not my style.”

“It’s really not,” I murmured. “So now you’re here.”

“I am. And I love you.”

“Well, shit. You really just said that.”

“Calculated risk.”

“You’re crazy, you know it?”

“I was hoping for a more positive reaction,” he admitted.

I pulled his mouth down to mine and kissed him with all the swirling emotions I was feeling.

I pulled back first, even though it was the last thing I wanted. “I love you too. You really think we can do this? Because I can’t lose you again.”

“We’ll figure it out. Because I’m red and you’re yellow.”

“I thought I was red and you were yellow.”

“I sense a compromise in the making.”

“How mature of you.”

“Mhmm. Let’s work it out naked.”

“Only if you start in your Waldo costume.”

I shoved at him, but he pulled me closer. He bent to kiss me. I let him for a moment, then pulled back as his hands snuck under the waistband of my pants. “Hey, watch the hands.”

Avery glanced over my shoulder. “Where’s your desk?”

“What, you think getting it on at work events is our thing now? I’ll have you know this is my new job and I happen to take it very seriously.”

“Then let’s get the fuck out of here fast, because I’m going to take you very seriously.”

His mouth found my neck and I gasped. “I was wrong. You’re still not funny.”