Then Trey leaned in and pressed his lips to Magnus’s mouth. The kiss was gentle and sweet. It felt more like a goodbye than a promise, but Magnus was pretending the same way Trey was. As long as he didn’t acknowledge the fact Trey was adding distance, it wouldn’t be real.
The question was: how long could this go on before Magnus was nothing more than a shadow in Trey’s memory?
Chapter Two
Nearly one week later…
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Ava huffed. It was time to puther foot down. Not literally because she was comfortable where she was on the couch, but in her mind, she was squaring off with Magnus, her hands on her hips, staring him down as she said, “It’s time for you to go back to work.”
No response.
Of course not. Why in the world would Magnus make this easy on her?
Ava had been talking to him for the better part of ten minutes, but it appeared he wasn’t listening. What she wanted to do was shove Magnus right out the door. She might even find amusement in the task if he would stumble down the stairs and fall face-first into the dirt. She could laugh while he dusted himself off and then acknowledge, finally, that she was strong enough to take back the reins of her life.
Fine. If she shoved him, she doubted he would move an inch, much less down four steps, but the idea was amusing. She was stronger, sure, but she was no match for Magnus Storme. A shove from her might make him sway. Maybe. Okay, doubtful. But still.
He’d done this to her. He’d put her in this snarky mood with his grumbling and grousing, the way he stomped through the house with that dark cloud hovering over his head.
“Did you hear me?” she prodded when he made another pass through the living room. He’d been pacing one giant circle for the past five minutes, making his way through the kitchen, the breakfast nook, back to the living room, down the little hallway, and into the kitchen once more. Rinse and repeat.
Of course, he didn’t respond because he was grumpy, and when Magnus was grumpy, he didn’t listen with his ears.
Dadgum men.
When he returned to the living room, she started again, raising her voice to be heard over the heavy fall of his footsteps.
“Go!”
Stomp-stomp-stomp.(More stomping since it was a good distance.)
“To!”
Stomp-stomp-stomp.(And more stomping.)
“Work!” She screamed the last word at the top of her lungs and effectively got Magnus’s attention. He came to an abrupt stop, his eyebrows slamming down over his pretty hazel eyes as he glared daggers in her direction.
“What?”
“Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t hear me,” she snapped. “I said you need to go back to work. Do something with yourself, Magnus. No one likes a whiny man. Doesn’t matter how hot you are.”
He stared at her for a painfully long moment before a smile pulled at his lips. Those were pretty, too, just like his eyes. She wouldn’t say everything about him was pretty, but he wasn’t hard to look at, that was for sure. But he was far too masculine to be pretty with all those muscles, especially the enormous ones in his shoulders and arms. And his chest … and those abs … and—
Yep, she needed a fan again.
“You think I’m hot.”
Ava noticed it wasn’t a question. She snorted. “Get over yourself.”
Magnus’s grin widened as she’d hoped it would.
“Seriously, Magnus,” she said, erasing all teasing and snark from her tone. “You really should get back to work. I know Gia and Billy would be grateful for the help. As would Trey. They’ve been workin’ their butts off these last few months so you could play nursemaid.” She held up her hand before he could interrupt. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know, but I’m fine now. I’m all healed up. I can go to the bathroom by myself and everything.”
God, she remembered the first time he had helped her to the bathroom after her surgery. If she hadn’t been in significant pain and hopped up on painkillers, she would’ve been mortified. The memory was bad enough.
“The doctor said—”
