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She wore it on the plane when she was weighing whether I was worth trusting. I've seen it every time she's stood on the edge of a decision that could change everything and hated how much she wanted to jump anyway.

"Torin?"

My name rolls off her tongue differently now, with enough heat in it to sink beneath my skin.

"You know, Laurel,” I hear myself say, “I've spent weeks trying to get over you."

Her breath hitches.

Ashby mutters a curse under his breath.

Laurel blinks at me. "What?"

A rough laugh escapes me. "It would've been a hell of a lot easier if I didn't want you every time I see you."

Laurel's lips part as color rushes into her cheeks.

I can't look away.

The moment feels ripe for confession.

"I wanted you on that plane,” I tell her honestly, looking into her mesmerizing hazel eyes. "I wanted you when I learned who you really were." Every truth I've swallowed since then claws its way free. "And every day after that."

The words leave me raw.

Laurel stares at me, and the look in her eyes nearly wrecks me. Because she's looking at me the way I've been looking at her for weeks.

Her attention shifts to Ashby then. He closes his eyes briefly and pinches the bridge of his nose like he's developing a migraine.

"Well," he says drily. "This has gone spectacularly off script."

Briggs chuckles. "You had a script?"

Ashby ignores him with the long-suffering patience of a man who's been putting up with Briggs for years.

Laurel's mouth twitches.

The sight of it loosens the knot in my chest.

Ashby finally looks directly at her. Really looks at her. "I attempted to approach this situation rationally."

That earns an actual laugh from her. "Rationally? You?"

"Yes. I kept telling myself this was about Ben's family."

Laurel's smile softens. "And then?"

His answer comes without hesitation. "Then it became about you."

Ashby isn't a man who wastes words. Every sentence costs him consideration. Laurel knows it too.

I watch the realization move across her face.

She looks at Briggs.

At me.

At Ashby.