“And I’d been telling her that since I was seven, and you used to call me a brat.”
“You were a brat.” He took a step closer. “A real pain in my ass.”
Ava set her glass on the counter. “And what about now?”
Magnus closed the distance completely, holding her stare as he did. He kept his arms at his sides until Ava’s settled on his hips. The moment she touched him, he cupped the side of her face and tilted her head back.
“You’re still a brat, Ava,” he whispered, sliding his hand to the back of her head, cradling it gently as he leaned down and fused his mouth to hers.
The world might’ve stopped spinning for those few moments as Ava’s soft lips parted under his. When he licked into her mouth, and she met his tongue with hers, he had to lock his knees. A simple, sweet kiss from this woman made his cock harden behind his zipper. That had never happened before. Then again, the other women he’d kissed hadn’t been Ava. His sweet, sweet Ava.
He could’ve kissed her for hours, but Magnus suspected her unusual behavior had something to do with her therapy session. Now was not the time to do something she might regret later, so he pulled back and stared down at her. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced out the window. Trey was still standing there, staring into the window. He looked … well, Magnus wasn’t sure how to describe it.
But then Trey dropped his head and shook it as he marched around to the driver’s side of his truck. He got in and peeled out of the gravel drive a second later.
Ava’s attention had shifted to the window, and the expression on her face was nothing short of horror.
“Oh, my God.” She peered up at Magnus. “What did I do?” She put her hands on her cheeks and sidestepped him. “I can’t believe I just did that.”
Magnus couldn’t quite understand why she was horrified. “What’s wrong?”
“I kissed Trey, and then I kissed you.”
“And?”
Ava spun around and put her hands on her hips. “Magnus Storme, don’t be an idiot.”
His mouth fell open, but he didn’t know what to say. So Trey had seen them kissing. So fucking what? Magnus had watchedthem. It seemed only fair.
“Trey’s gonna think I’m playing games,” she said quickly.
“Are you?” He didn’t mean to ask it like that, but it came out sounding as though he blamed her.
“Of course not.” She frowned. “The last thing I want is to come between you.” She waved her arm dramatically. “I already did that because I’ve overstayed my welcome. Y’all were happy before I came along.”
Magnus snorted. “We were a lot of things, but I wouldn’t go that far.”
Ava’s eyes narrowed. “But y’all were together.”
Magnus shrugged. “Kinda.”
“What does that mean?”
He turned and paced into the living room. “It was only supposed to be sex. That’s what Trey wanted.”
“Like a one-night stand?”
Magnus nodded, and a mirthless laugh escaped. “A series of them. Over a year and a half.”
Ava laughed, a loud sound that made Magnus grin. “Andwhyon earth would y’all let it go on that long?”
Magnus turned and met her gaze, his expression sobering. “Because I fell in love with him, and the thought of not seein’ him… I wanted whatever he was willin’ to give me.”
Ava’s smile fell, and her eyes softened. “And I screwed it up.”
Shaking his head, Magnus moved toward her. He ignored his rule about touching her first as he put his hand on her hip and drew her toward him. “No, Ava, you didn’t. Trey’s had one foot out the door since the beginning. We weren’t in alignment on what we wanted.”
“Because you’re bisexual?”
