His eyes darted over my face. “Why?”
I cleared my throat. “You should ask him about it,” I said. “This feels a little tricky to navigate, and I think the right call is redirecting it.”
“What the fuck isthatsupposed to mean?”
“It means I respect that you and my brother are friends. That you’re close—closer than you and I are right now. So I think this is a conversation you and he should have. And if you still want to ask me afterward, then I’ll be here.”
“I guess that’s fair.” His eyes didn’t move from mine. “So that wasn’t it?”
“What?”
He shrugged quickly, eyes flicking down at his lap. “You weren’t seeing anyone else?”
My lips curved into a smile before I could help it. I knew I’d put that idea in his head, and I knew it had hurt him, but I couldn’t ignore the rush his jealousy gave me. That was new. I hadn’t exactly been fond of it before.
“It took me a while to start dating again,” I said. “After you. It wasn’t exactly easy.”
His gaze burned into mine. His lips finally twitched out of the firm line they’d been pressed into. “Same.”
Some of the tension between us eased.
Then he hesitated, thumb brushing the rim of his cup. “Can I ask you something else?”
My shoulders tightened automatically. “Sure.”
“Is everything okay at work?”
I stilled.
“I saw a headline,” he added quickly. “Just… kind of stumbled on it. They’re everywhere.”
Yeah, fucking assholes loved throwing salt on a wound. Especially when the wound carried my last name.
A slow breath left me. “It’s being handled.”
Ethan stayed quiet for a moment, watching me over the rim of his cup. “That sounds like a no.”
I huffed a light laugh, keeping my tone even. “It sounds like I’m not ruining a perfectly good espresso with corporate catastrophe at seven in the morning.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, but the worry stayed etched into his expression. “Fair.” He didn’t push.
And I was grateful he didn’t.
More than my own father, the idea of lettinghimdown felt like acid burning in my stomach. I knew I shouldn’t want him to idealize me. I loved that Ethan knew me—the real me. But this was never supposed to happen. I should have had better control over it.
Building this company had been one of the reasons I left him. The last thing I wanted was for him to witness it going up in flames. To watch me fail.
“Do you hate me a little less?” My voice came out almost like a whisper.
He caught it anyway. Ethan smiled, looking away and shaking his head. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m capable of hating you.”
Those words soothed an ache in my chest that had been lodged there for years. “Friends?”
He nodded. “Always.”
I wanted to lunge across the table and kiss the hesitation off his lips.
No, Sebastian. We’re not going there.
