“How do you know that?” I asked, my voice suddenly a little rougher than it’d been before.
She looked up then, meeting my eyes with a small smile tugging at her mouth and her gaze sparkling with something that made my pulse race. “I know that because we’re friends and I trust you.”
Friends.
The word lodged in my brain, landing with a sharp and unsatisfying thud that just didn’t feel right. I took a step closer to her, unable to help myself. I needed her to see it. To feel what I did.
“Is that all we are?” I asked quietly, my eyes directly on hers.
Her breath caught, and for a moment, she was speechless, but then her lips parted. No sound came out at first. The air between us grew thicker with every passing second until it became almost unbearable.
It suddenly felt like my shirt was clinging to my torso. My collar was too tight. It kind of felt like my clothes had shrunk three sizes from one heartbeat to the next. The heat of her apartment seemed to be sizzling between us and I had the dizzying sense that the walls were closing in, as if the universe itself needed me as close to her as possible.
I took another step toward her, Aurelia the only thing I could see and her shallow breathing the only thing I could hear. She just sat there, watching me with her signature drying on my prenup like it was nothing for her to trust me with everything.
I took yet another step forward before I even realized I was moving. My pulse thundered hard enough to drown out reason.God, I want her.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I ignored it, but then it buzzed again. Louder this time, or maybe just more insistent.
“Sorry,” I muttered as I pulled it out, feeling a lot more annoyed than I should’ve been since there was no way for whoever it was know what they were interrupting.
My mom’s name flashed across the screen. I hesitated to take the call, my thumb hovering over the button. Relief trickled through me when it stopped, but a second later, it started ringing again.
I exhaled, blinking myself out of that weird haze and giving Aurelia an apologetic half-smile. “I should take this. Something might be wrong, if she’s this insistent.”
Aurelia’s brows lifted, but she didn’t speak as I swiped to answer the call and pressed the phone to my ear. “Hey, Mom.”
“Harrison, darling,” she said brightly, as if I hadn’t stormed out on her the last time we’d spoken. “We’re having a family dinner tonight, a private celebration of your father’s retirement. I need you to be here. Now, actually.”
“Now? Are you out of your?—”
“This isn’t open for negotiation.” She was using the motherly tone that brooked no argument. “I know it’s been a difficult week, but your father deserves for us to put everything else aside tonight. The man has spent his entire life working day and night to be able to hand over a healthy company toallof you. You will be here to celebrate his retirement.”
I noticed the subtle emphasis she’d put on the wordall,knowing this was part of her way of telling me they weren’t going to stand for me opening my own firm, but this was hardly the time to get into it.
By the time I hung up, the charge in the air between Aurelia and I had faded a little. It wasn’t gone by any means, but it was buried from my side at least beneath familial obligation and duty.
I met Aurelia’s gaze, still feeling the burn of what had almost just happened between us. “I have to go. Family dinner.”
I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. “My father’s retirement seems to be the gift that keeps on giving this week, but hear me out. Wild thought. Would you like to come with me?”
Aurelia’s eyebrows shot up. “You want me to come to your family dinner?”
“Yeah, I do. I really, really do.”
She studied me, doubt flickering across her features. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
I didn’t answer right away. Instead, my gaze dropped to the faint glint of gold peeking out from the neckline of her shirt. Before I could second-guess myself, I reached out. My fingers found the delicate chain and drew it out. Aurelia sucked in a sharp breath when the backs of my fingers grazed her skin. Her eyes flew up to meet mine, and for a long moment, neither of us moved.
As I held her gaze, I unclasped the chain slowly and carefully. The ring slid free and I held it in my palm for the briefest second before turning it between my fingertips. I took her hand, my eyes never leaving hers.
My thumb brushed over her knuckles, lingering, grounding myself and hopefully her as well, and then I slid the ring onto her finger, putting it firmly where it belonged.
“Yeah,” I said quietly but confidently. “I’m ready.”
CHAPTER 24
AURELIA
