Chapter 7
ALEX
Alex pounded against his keyboard, his frustration pouring out as he beat the keys. As he hit another dead end, he puffed out a sigh, smacking a hand against his forehead before he slammed his laptop shut.
He’d dug as deep as he could trying to track the message that arrived on Ava’s phone, but he’d hit a dead end at every turn.
The ominous message had been sent by a ghost.
His lips tugged into a frown as his fingers tapped out a frantic rhythm on the top of his desk. How had the person who’d done this gotten Ava’s phone number?
His eyes shifted to the empty desk chair across the room. Her chair.
When she’d agreed to come for the weekend, he’d known he wanted her to stay longer. And to convince her, he had to pull out all the stops. He had to make sure she was comfortable here, that she could envision herself here.
Of course, it wasn’t his only home. They could duck out in October and move to his winter home in a much warmer locale, but by then, he wouldn’t have to convince her anymore. He’d have won the battle already, and she could do the decorating.
Until then, he’d had the home office redone to give her a glamorous space to work.
He rose and crossed to the workspace, running his fingers along the antique white desk as he studied the intricately carved, curved legs. The delicate scrollwork whispered of a bygone era, one of kings and queens.
He sank into the plush, regal chair with its high back, ergonomically designed for comfort even after long hours. The rich, velvet fabric matched her personality perfectly.
He’d even had a cozy corner nook for when she preferred to leave the desk behind.
She hadn’t even been in the room yet, but he hoped she’d be impressed with his attention to detail, to the finer points that fit her to a T.
His mind turned from his frustration with his inability to track the ominous message on Ava’s phone to his dissatisfaction with the situation earlier in the evening.
His fingers tightened around the velvety-soft arms of her chair.
They’d come within seconds of a kiss. After tracking down a short list of potential culprits, a moment of elation had nearly turned into something more intimate.
Their lips had been a hair’s breadth away from each other when her phone had chimed. The sinister message had ruined the moment.
But since it happened, he couldn’t shake the memory of their faces inches apart. The near-kiss lingered in his mind, a tantalizing “what if” that still left his heart racing.
Alex stared out the window overlooking the ocean, roiling under the moonlight with the promise of an impending storm, his thoughts lost on the interrupted moment that lingered like a ghost’s whisper.
The office’s dim light cast long shadows, mirroring the tangled emotions within him.
The soft click of a door drew his attention away from his thoughts. Footsteps padded toward him before her form hovered in the doorway, limned in the hall’s light.
He smiled at her and the gentle intrusion she brought, an interruption he welcomed.
“I didn’t think I heard you go to bed.” She took another step inside. “Am I interrupting?”
“No, come in,” he said, his smile spreading. “I was just…thinking.”
Ava sauntered into the room, her presence a calming balm for his scattered thoughts. She traced the outline of the desk he sat at. “Were you thinking about how this desk really isn’t your style?”
“Yes,” he said with a sluggish chuckle as he bobbed his head. “That is weirdly exactly what I was thinking, Avs. But you know whose style it is?”
He rose from the royal purple chair and slid his hands around her shoulders before he eased her into the seat and whispered in her ear, “Yours.”
She rubbed a hand across the top. “It’s almost like you know me.”
He plopped into his chair, eyeing her reaction to the desk.
Her lips curled at the corners as she swept a hand over it. Was she realizing how much he’d paid attention or preparing to ask him what he’d do with it after she left?
She finally flicked her gaze to his, her seafoam-green eyes searching his features. He wanted to reach out and touch her soft skin, to pull her back into the kiss that didn’t happen, or at least ask her what she thought about what had happened earlier. But instead, he said nothing.
He wasn’t certain he wanted to hear her answer. He didn’t know enough about her relationship with Chris to engage in any discussions yet. If she told him she planned to stick with her fiancé, he couldn’t argue beyond the fact that she seemed tense and uptight whenever she engaged with him.
She’d likely tell him that was because of their situation, and he’d be back to square one.
He’d rather go through a thousand almost-kisses than one resounding rejection.
“So, what’s keeping you up?” Her voice drew him out of his introspection and back to the real world.
“I was trying to trace that text you got.”
“I assume since you were sitting in this very purple chair at what seems to be my desk, it wasn’t going well.”
He offered her a slight smile. “Yeah. That text bounced off of cell towers all over the world, which means someone is determined to hide.”
“And has the tech skills to do it,” she answered as she drew her legs up into a cross-legged seat.
Silence stretched between them again as he lamented the fact that he couldn’t use his hacking skills to protect her.
“I couldn’t sleep either,” she admitted, settling her chin in her palms. “Do you want to game or work?”
He blew out a long breath. “Uhhh, game. I don’t need to lose any more sleep tracking down thieves tonight.”
A smile spread across her features as she rose and reached for his hand. The warmth of her skin sent a wave of longing through him.
So far, though, his plan wasn’t working terribly. He would have preferred to see her laptop sitting on her new desk, but maybe tomorrow while they vetted through the people on their shortlist of suspects.
Instead, he’d focus on mining more information from her during their impromptu gaming session.
When they arrived downstairs, he shifted the folders aside and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “Dr. Mario?”
“Sure,” she answered as she settled in next to him on the couch.
The game loaded, and in seconds, they were dropping pieces on the split screen in the Tetris-like game.
“So,” he said, wading into the conversation, “how’d you meet Design Dude?”
Her eyes never left the screen as she cleared a row and worked to build another. “Oh, umm, at a bookstore.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, shifting his eyes from the screen to study her expression for a brief second before he returned to his game. She was being evasive. Ava could talk like a champ.
She’d never had a shortage of words. He recalled her babbling on for hours during their gaming sessions about anything and everything.
And she’d never held back when it came to previous romantic interests. That had been before they were married, though.
“Care to elaborate on that, Sparky?”
“Not really,” she answered, staying intensely focused on her game.
She was avoiding the subject. Why?
“You seem really determined to avoid this subject,” he murmured as he slammed a straight piece into a row and cleared several.
She slid her eyes sideways for a second. “I’m not.”
“Okay, then elaborate.”
She clicked her tongue. “I just…don’t see why you’re interested.”
“That never stopped you in the past.”
This time she faced him more fully, eyebrows high. “Are you saying that I bombarded you with uninteresting conversations for your entire life?”
“No. And this time, I am interested.”
“Why?” She returned her gaze to the screen.
“Uh, because you’re going to marry this guy. And you’re…my bestie. Actually, you’re my wife. So, I’d like you to be happy.”
“I’m happy,” she answered.
“Mmm, yeah, you sound elated. Avoiding sharing any details, clipped answers.”
“Leave it alone, Ace.”
“I’m just wondering why you’re so tight-lipped about this guy. That’s all?”
“I just…find this awkward, okay? I mean…Chris was…shocked when he found out I was married.”
Alex glanced at her again, letting a piece trail down the screen into the wrong place. “So, you feel guilty? Like you’re betraying him or something?”
She heaved a sigh, sliding her eyes closed as her thumb tapped the pause button. “Something like that.”
Her forehead fell into her hand.
He discarded his controller in favor of rubbing her shoulders, hoping to provide her some measure of comfort. “Avs, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No, I just kept my first marriage from my fiancé, that’s all.”
He heaved a sigh, not wanting to reinforce the idea that their marriage wasn’t real. “I don’t think–”
“I mean, we’re not even a real marriage. So, why didn’t I just say that?” she blurted, tossing her hand in the air.
He struggled to hold back a wince at the words.
She leapt from her seat, pacing the floor in her Scooby Doo slippers. “Why didn’t I tell him?”
The last statement sounded more like a question to herself than to him.
“Maybe–”
“Because I knew how he’d react. Because that’s how Chris always reacts.”
This was more like the Ava he knew. She could carry the entire conversation herself. He hoped her babbling would give him some fodder to work with when convincing her to stay with him and leave Chris.
“If he–”
“It’s fine. It’s fine,” she said to herself as she puffed out her cheeks, blowing out a sigh. “He’s just…still working through his surprise.”
He sucked in a breath, trying to think of a response.
“Yeah,” she answered before he could. “Yeah.”
She flicked those green eyes his way. “It’s fine.”
“Definitely,” he answered.
She grinned at him. “I’m glad you agree.” She plopped onto the couch next to him, settling in to resume the game.
He shifted in his seat as he worked through the next few pieces. He hadn’t learned anything useful from her babbling outside of the fact that Chris reacted in a similar way often. And that wasn’t useful at all.
“So, uh, can you finally tell me how you met now?”