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“I’m so sorry, Ry.”

She couldn’t help concentrating on the path of Tyler’s thumb stroking up her shoulder and down to her collarbone. She also couldn’t help how her eyes drooped to his lips, then to his shirt, the tightness around his shoulders and biceps making her mind go fuzzy. She heard him take a deep breath as he crowded her. A breeze rolled through the screen of the front window, the smell of fresh rain on pavement filling her nose, goosebumps flecking her skin. His face was so close she almost felt like she could smell the spiced cinnamon from their hot chocolate on Christmas, or the autumn leaves covering the backyard when he first kissed her. When her entire world changed.

She finally dared to look up at him, his eyes also drawn to her lips. He moved his hands slowly, gracing them up her neck and cradling the back of her head, her Scoops hat falling back onto the counter behind her as he drew her closer to him.

But then he stopped, his eyes still on her lips, so close they could almost brush.

“Kiss me, Ty,” she pleaded.

He massaged his hands in her hair, her ponytail coming loose.

“I want to, Ry,” he said. “So bad.”

“Then why don’t you?”

“Because if we do this, if I do this, I would never be able to forgive myself.”

“For breaking my heart?”

He nodded, leaning down as he placed his forehead against hers.

Rory traced her hands up his side, placing them on his chest. “Ty, not being with you…I think it’s already breaking my heart.”

His grip tightened. “Every day I’m not with you causes me pain down to my bones. But then I think about leaving you, and I just…long-distance is hard. I don’t want to make things harder for you.”

Rory huffed. “Stop being so honorable, Chapman, and kiss me already.”

“If I do, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”

She smirked, nudging his nose. “Fine by me.”

“Rory…”

Pounding on the window outside made them jump. Tyler dropped his hands and whipped his head around, making room for Rory to see the unhappy customer.

But it wasn’t a customer on the other side of the window, completely drenched.

It was Jay.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Crap,” Rory muttered, pushing herself off the counter.

He quickly grabbed her hand before she could walk any farther. “Wait, Rory.”

She glanced back at him, feeling panicked.

“Do you want me to handle this?”

The metal doorknob in the back turned, the door swinging open.

“No,” she breathed. “This was going to happen eventually.”

She heard the door slam shut, and he entered The War Room. Rory rounded the corner, Tyler following closely behind, as she watched Jay pick up his stack of new Scoops shirts before checking the schedule for the week pinned to the corkboard.

“So this is the guy, huh?” he asked, not glancing at her once. “I should have known.”

“Jay—”