I’m done letting her run.

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

She looks confused for a second before I see those damn walls getting thicker.

“Don’t,” I firmly state. “Do not even think about making those goddamn walls any fucking stronger, Sunshine. No more of that. Why have you been running from me? I come into a room you’re in and you leave. I call and you don’t answer. You’ve been there for weeks and now nothing.”

“I’m not running. I’ve been busy.”

“You can’t even look me in the eye, so don’t give me that line of crap.”

Her eyes narrow, and I watch in rapt fascination as she stands a little straighter, marches right up to me—toe to toe—and jams her finger into my chest. “You…you SHIT! Why would I want to be around you, Asher? Huh? So you can throw some more insults at me? So you can show me just how little you think of me, of our friendship?! Or maybe, just maybe, I need another little self-esteem knockdown.”

When she stops talking, her cheeks are flushed, her chest is moving even quicker than it was before, and those eyes I love so much are blazing with her anger. What in the hell did I miss here?

“Uh, Sunshine, I have no clue what you are referring to.”

“Of course you don’t, Ash. How could you possibly remember something that happened when you were so drunk you couldn’t even stand up straight? Let me ask you this. Do you remember what happened to give you all those damn claw marks on your body? Don’t even think about lying to me either. Let me guess. Another one of your skin-and-bones groupies?”

“I don’t have groupies!” The words are heavy with the angry power I feel forming in my gut.

“Yeah, okay, then you have an army of sluts. Easy bitches that you fuck every day or hour—I don’t know. But I know I’m sick of watching it.” She rolls her eyes, but not before she can hide the flash of pain.

“And why is that, Chelcie? Is it because you wish it was you? Because let me tell you, I wish it was you. Every. Single. Time.”

Her gasp echoes against the walls. Even the noises from outside the door of the busy restaurant seem to mute themselves. It’s just us in here.

These are the moments you look back on when you’re knocking on Death’s door and smile. These are the moments when you can just feel in your gut that something life changing is happening.

And I thank Christ that I’m sober enough to remember this.

“That’s right, Chelcie. You. Do you really want to know how I got scratched up? It’s because the last woman I had, unfortunately, didn’t like it when I said your name when I came. I can’t change the past, and Lord knows I’m no monk, but I’m done. Done with the drinking, the other women, and I’m damn sure done fighting this attraction we’ve both been dancing around for three long months.”

She gasps, and using it to my advantage, I crash my lips down to hers.

Feeling her lips against mine—finally—is like finding water after years of a drought. It feels like coming home. It feels like I just got shocked with the highest voltage of electricity. The tingles shoot all the way from where our lips are joined straight to my dick.

Her hands shoot up to my sides, tightly fisting my shirt. I run my hands up her arms, curl them around her neck, and tilt her head to give me a better angle. To feast deeply on her lips. When I lick her plump lips and they open on a moan, I feel her melt into me. I stand there and pour every bit of lust I’ve had building into this kiss. Every promise of what is to come.

We stand there, ignoring the world around us while I take her in a kiss so powerful I have to lock my knees to keep from buckling. Damn, the things this woman does to my body.

I vaguely hear the pounding against the door. Between the wet sounds of our mouths mating together and our joined moans, it’s hard to focus on anything else. When they get louder, I feel her stiffen under my hands and I know the moment has been ruined. I pull back, not removing my hands from her neck, and rest my forehead against hers. My eyes closed while I try to calm the inferno that’s taken over my system.

I don’t even have a second to go from fucking her lips with mine before she rips herself from my hold. Reaching out, I grab the counter and steady myself before looking up at unexpected anger.

“How dare you,” she says coarsely. “I refuse to be another notch on your belt, Ash. You aren’t hurting for attention, obviously, and I see the girls you sleep with. I know I’m not as tall as they are or as skinny. Lord knows you made it perfectly clear just how chubby you see me. You had a clear shot at someone easy not even ten minutes ago. Don’t you dare come at me with your…that… Fuck! I don’t even know how to get this through to you. You hurt me, Asher. You hurt me, and I don’t know if I can stop thinking about it long enough to be nice to you. So yeah, I have been avoiding you. You don’t have to do me any favors by pretending to be into the chubby, lonely girl, okay?”