Heat flashes through my face, and I turn away before he sees too much. “That’s ridiculous.”Deny, deny, deny.
“Is it?” His voice is too damn amused.
“Yes, it is.” I shove to my feet, and the movement comes easier than it did a few weeks ago. My knee doesn’t ache the same way. Elliot’s plan is working. I should be grateful, focused on my progress. Instead, I’m thinking about how her hands had steadied me through the stretches, how her laughter had lingered in my ears long after I left her place.
“She’s not my girl. I don’t have a girl. And Austin flirts as easily as he breathes. He doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know that.” Noah finally lets the smirk break into a grin. “I just wanted to make sure you knew it too. And maybe offer some advice on better ways to stake your claim on the girl that’s not your girl.”
“Noah—”
“Have you thought about peeing in a circle around her when the other males are present?” His brows lift. “That would make it perfectly clear she’s yours.”
“She’s not fucking mine,” I grit out. My fists clench at mysides, and if Noah wasn’t the only real friend I had left, he’d already be eating through a feeding tube.
“Okay.” He raises his hands slowly, palms out, a gesture of surrender. His grin softens into something closer to understanding. After a beat, he adds quietly, “But you want her to be.”
I open my mouth to argue. To shut Noah down, shut this whole conversation down before it goes any further. But the words stick in my throat. Lately, I feel like all I’ve been doing is lying to myself. I don’t want to lie to him.
My arms fold tight across my chest, my eyes dropping to the floor like it holds the solution to my problems. “I’m not…not interested.”
Noah exhales sharply. “Thank fuck, man.”
“But it doesn’t matter whether I am or not,” I force out. “It’s not going to happen.”
He steps inside like he owns the place, swinging the door shut with a quiet click. It feels like my office is no longer my office. It’s a confession booth. Noah drops into the chair Crawford had been sprawled in ten minutes ago and leans back, arms crossed, face patient. “Tell me why.”
“Many reasons,” I mutter. My feet carry me in restless lines across the office, each step feeding the nervous energy burning under my skin. “Too many reasons.”
“Start with one.”
“I don’t date.”
Noah chuckles. “That’s not a reason. That’s a habit. Habits change. Next.”
“She’s too young for me.”
His brows lift. “How young?”
“Thirty-two.” I checked her personnel file.
He rolls his eyes so hard I can practically hear them hit the back of his skull. “Jesus, Ace. A ten-year gap? At our age, who gives a damn? She’s not some kid. She’s a grown woman. Witha twelve-year-old. Which, I’m guessing, brings me to your next excuse.”
I bristle, jaw tightening. “Exactly. She’s got a kid.”
“So?”
“So I don’t know a damn thing about kids. Hell, I barely remember being one myself.” I actually try to remember as little as possible about my childhood.
Noah just shakes his head. “You’re inventing problems. You’re not signing adoption papers on day one. Let her decide how that goes. You’d only have as much of a role in his life as Elliot is comfortable with. Stop sprinting ten miles down a road you haven’t stepped foot on yet.”
“Ihaveto sprint ten miles down the road,” I snap, frustration breaking through. “If I don’t map out every turn, every dead-end, every worst-case scenario—how the hell am I supposed to prepare for them?”
The room falls quiet. My pacing slows, but the war inside me doesn’t. Part of me wants to fight him, to cling to the reasons, the boundaries, the distance I’ve built. The other part wants to shove all of it aside, walk straight to her, and stop pretending I don’t feel what I feel every time her eyes lock on mine.
But both of these realities can’t coexist.
“Give me one of these scenarios.”
