She posted this after everything. After she ran. She still did her job.
I stare at the post for a long moment. At the video we filmed this morning when everything was still careful and professional.
She suggested the mistletoe. She ordered it. She made the sign. And when we ended up under it together, she kissed me.
She wants this too.
I close the app and grab my laptop.
If I'm going to fight for this, I need a plan. Tomorrow: professional but warm at work. Show her I'm not going to make it weird. Help her build her own marketing business—prove I want her to succeed, not just work for me. Give her time, but not so much that she talks herself out of this.
And figure out what the hell I'm going to do about Seth and Grayson.
Because I saw her at the Tree Lighting. Saw how she looked at all three of us. The way her scent changed. The way she ran from the whole situation. I saw her come out of that alley with Grayson.
I'm not the only one falling for Bea Wilson.
The thought should make me jealous. Possessive. Every alpha instinct I have should be raging at the competition.
But it doesn't. Instead, I keep thinking about that moment—the four of us in the square. The way the air felt charged with possibility.
What if this isn't about competition at all?
I type two names:Talk to Seth. Talk to Grayson.
Then I close the laptop and let myself remember. The way she felt in my arms. The sounds she made. The way she kissed me like she was starving.
She wants this too. I know she does.
Now I just have to convince her it's worth the risk.
And maybe—maybe—figure out if there's room in this story for more than just the two of us.
Chapter 11
Bea
Imake it to the corner before I have to stop and lean against the brick wall of the bakery.
One block from the hardware store. One block from where I just made the worst—or best—decision of my life.
My legs are shaking. My heart's racing. And I can still taste him.
What the hell did I just do?
The December air bites at my flushed cheeks, but it does nothing to cool the heat flooding my system. My whole body feels like it's vibrating at a frequency that shouldn't be possible, every nerve ending lit up and screaming for more.
More of River. More of his hands on my hips. More of that devastating control barely holding back something wild and desperate.
My thighs are still shaky. I can feel the phantom pressure of his grip on my ass, the way he pulled me harder against him. The way I ground against him like I was trying to crawl inside his skin.
God. What is wrong with me?
I kissed him.
No—I wrapped my legs around him and practically climbed him like a tree in his own hardware store where anyone could have walked in. Where the security camera definitely caught everything. Where I work.
"Oh god." I press my palms to my burning face. "I'm an idiot."
