The thing was, I wanted to keep these moments private and between us without the annoyance of other parties poking fun at us. Commandeering Avery’s attention and time was a precious thing at this point, and wasn’t something I was going to be apologizing over, either.
“I missed you.” He whispered the words against my skin, sending a shiver racing up my spine.
I fisted my hands around the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer to me until we were practically molded together.Thiswas perfect.
“I’m surprised you’re out and about.” A smile teased at my lips. “Thought I wore you out too much last night.”
He breathed out a laugh. “What, are you calling me old?”
“Never.”
He nipped at my ear lobe. “Liar.”
I slapped his back in response. “You didn’t need to come all the way out here just to bring me lunch. Though, I do appreciate it.”
“I wanted to.” He leaned back to look at me. “Plus, I had a meeting earlier.”
“Don’t tell me there’s another lawsuit coming your way.”
I wouldn’t put it past Steele to drag this on for the next few years with lawsuit after lawsuit, no matter how many of them got thrown out. If there was a way to waste Avery’s time and money, that was the golden ticket.
“Actually...” He nuzzled his nose against mine. “It was over me quitting my job.”
That had me jerking my head back instantly. “What?”
He frowned slightly. “My VP swung down from the city. I handed over all of my passcodes and admin privileges to him over breakfast.”
“That—for...” I could barely get the words out. “Why?”
His mouth opened and shut a few times, clearly at a loss as to how to answer my question.
Why the hell would he throw away a career like that just because he was going to be faced with some hiccups regarding Ana and Alexander Steele?
That was letting them win. That was letting them get in his head while convincing him there was no way to fight them unless he was stuck here in Ellington Heights.
The worst part was that stupidly selfish greed to be happy over his decision. I couldn’t let him do that to himself, or his career. What kind of... whatever-I-was would I be?
“Avery, you can’t stay here.”
His eyes widened. His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow. “Why? You don’t want me to?”
Yes, of course I do.“That’s not the point.”
He seemed hurt by my words for some reason, attention flickering away. “All right.”
I tightened my hand around his shirt, not letting him move when he began to pull away. This was a serious conversation. I was going to drill it into his head not to let someone likeAna Liapovichconvince him he needed to be trapped here on the front line in order to protect his family’s assets.
“Avery, listen to me. You don’t need to stay here. That’s letting them win. You’re so much stronger than that.”
His brows pulled together. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“The court case? Or whatever’s going on with Ana and Alexander Steele. Don’t let them get into your head about having to stay here. If anything, I can stop by the estate and check on it every day before and after work to make sure no moving trucks have somehow snuck in.”
For some reason, he stared at me for an unforgivably long pause. The weird tension was causing my stomach to clench hard enough that I was beginning to feel nauseous. I hoped he wasn’t taking this as me pushing him away.
Hell, Iwantedhim to stay and would give anything to keep him here. But unfortunately that wasn’t the reality of this situation. Unfortunately, I was going to have to be a damn grown up and get over myself.
Could we do long distance?
