“Helping her by doing what?” I ask sarcastically. “Purposefully spilling your coffee on her so that you could feel her up?”
Max looks at Ava with annoyance.
“Who is this derelict clown, again?” he asks. “An old high school friend? God, Ava, I would think that even the rural country-girl version of you would have better taste than this riff-raff.”
“Talk down to her again and I’m going to—”
“You’re going to what?” Max says to me as he tries to posture-up.
The funny thing about weaselly guys like him is that even when they’re trying to act tough, you can still see the fear in their eyes. I’m getting ready to beat the shit out of Max, and he knows it.
“Stop,” Ava says as she stands between us and puts her hand flat against my chest.
The feeling of her palm on my chest makes me stop, not because I have any lessened desire to pummel this guy, but because her touch immediately rules over me to do whatever she wants. I don’t remember her hold over me being quite so powerful back in high school. I hear Max hurling all sorts of insults and threats at me; things about how he has connections and lawyers, and on and on with his meaningless drivel. I’m twice the size of him, probably more. Nothing that he says unnerves me in the slightest and I would like nothing better than to teach him a lesson so that he never speaks to Ava like that again. But she looks up at me and speaks quietly and I feel as if suddenly hers is the only voice that I hear.
“Please stand down, Trevor,” she says quietly.
So I do.
While Max tries to regain his composure before joining his next stupid video chat (which honestly they are all starting to sound the same), I storm off to work outside for now so that I am not tempted to try to kill him again, and Ava goes to her room to change.
I had no intention of seeing her through the window, her bedroom window just happens to be the window that I have been working on. I look up from adjusting the frame and see her changing her shirt inside the room. I know that I should look away. It would be the right thing to do, but damn it,I just can’t. When she turns and sees me there, I expect to get yelled at. Ava walks over and opens the window and I can instantly feel the scolding coming on. But I’m surprised when the scolding isn’t about staring at her through the window.
“You nearly just cost me my job,” she says with a scowl on her face.
Her scowl is cute; it makes her mouth pucker in the most adorable way that makes me want to lean in through the windowsill and kiss her.
“And why do you hate Max so much?” she asks.
“I hate that guy because he’s a dick,” I say without reservation. “And because he treats you like crap.”
There is a look of turmoil on her face. Her brow furrows and her eyes narrow and she lets out a sigh that turns into a series of labored breaths as if she is fighting against her own self. I watch her and wait to see what she is going to say next. But instead of saying anything, shedoessomething. Ava leans her body through the window and grabs my face with both hands, putting her mouth on mine and pushing her tongue between my lips. Even though I am shocked by the abrupt action, I can immediately feel the urgency between the both of us as I kiss her back with an impassioned need that could bring me to my knees. The feeling of her tongue wrapping around mine and her soft lips pressing against my mouth, makes me push my body against the windowsill to try to get as close to her as possible. I would push right through the wall if I could or climb up through the open window. I feel like I need to be closer to her than is physically possible as I wrap my arms beneath her shoulders and pull her toward me. I can feel her fingers running through my hair as our heads turn and our mouths continue to push against each other. Ineedher. Whatever prompted her to reach for me shows me that she needs me too. No matter how hard either one of us tries to fight it, we can’t. Something keeps pulling us back to each other, even after all this time.
I want the moment to last longer. I don’t want to let her go. But when she pulls her mouth slowly away from mine, I can tell that it is painful for us both to let go. When the moment is over, we stand there looking at each other breathlessly. My hand is still touching hers against the window ledge, and I have the sudden realization that I am undeniably in love with Ava.
She looks at me with a mix of confusion, and longing, and even the touch of a slow smile that pulls at the side of her mouth. Then she turns to go back into the other room to finish her video chat with Max and their other partners.
I can’t let her move back to the city.It would be a big mistake for both of us.
I also can’t leave her alone in the house this whole time with Max.
3
Ava
When we finish up the video conference call, I notice that it is nearing evening. Ireallydon’t want to stay in this house alone with Max. It’s not that I think he’s harmful or dangerous in any way; I just think that he is pushy and that he ignores my boundaries. I’m still skeptical about his reason for even coming here in the first place, and now with the confrontation he had with Trevor, I’m feeling pretty uneasy about what’s going to happen once Trevor leaves for the day. I wouldn’t put it past Max to try to hit on me, and I’m not sure how I would handle it if he tried to come on to me in any sort of obvious way. Since he’s a senior partner that means he has leverage with the firm’s projects, and it also means that if he wanted to end my career with the firm he has enough pull to do so. I can’t let myself be put in a situation where that happens, so the only thing I can think of is to avoid staying in this house alone with him entirely. As if right on cue, Trevor walks in to wash up in the kitchen.This is my one chance to try to not be left in this house alone with Max.
“Hey, how did the repairs wind up for today?” I call casually to Trevor from the couch.
He looks at me kind of weird, as if he wasn’t expecting my tone to sound so much like chit-chat.
“Fine,” he says. “I’ll get a start on the next set of windows in the morning.”
“Great,” I say with a smile. “What should we make for dinner tonight?”
Trevor looks at me with no shortage of confusion, and Max looks up at me as well.
“Wait, the handyman stayshere?” Max asks. “In this house with you?”
