“It made you realize how you felt about him, didn’t it?” Gwen asked, even though she already knew the answer. After hearing what Ava had been through, she couldn’t even bring herself to hang on to any of the bitterness that she had directed toward her since losing Mac.

Looking shamefaced, Ava whispered, “I always knew I loved him. I just didn’t feel like I deserved him. When I met you, though, I knew I would lose him if I didn’t do something. You were so beautiful and exactly the type of woman Mac would choose to settle down with. I guess I thought that we would be frozen in time forever with neither of us ever leaving the other behind. Suddenly the reality hit me hard when I had to face the fact that he was pulling away from me.”

Gwen laid her hand atop Ava’s, giving it a squeeze of sympathy. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, truly I am. And I know it must have been hard for you to tell someone who is essentially a stranger to you something so personal. I’m touched that you care enough about my feelings to put yourself through that, and it does help me to find some closure knowing the reasons behind what happened with Mac.”

Ava gave her a timid smile, still looking more than a little guilty. “Mac really thinks a lot of you, Gwen, and the fact that we both hurt you has been hard for him to handle. I know that it’s too soon and maybe you’ll never be comfortable with it, but eventually I hope that we can all be friends. Dominic spends a lot of time with Mac, and I don’t want anything to change their relationship.”

“I know that they’re close,” Gwen agreed, “and I would never do anything to get in the way of that. Truthfully, I assumed that it would make both you and Mac uncomfortable to have me around.”

“No, we don’t feel that way at all,” Ava assured her. “In fact, I think Mac would be relieved to keep you in his life. He’s not the type of man who cares about someone and then walks away. He will always look out for you—that’s the type of man that he is.” Chuckling, Ava added, “He’s probably already lectured Dominic about what will happen if he doesn’t treat you well.”

“I’d hate to be a fly on the walls of that office.” Gwen laughed. She thought about how strange it was to be laughing with the woman she had despised just days earlier. Maybe she should still be holding a grudge, but she found that there was no way she could feel about Dominic the way that she did and have lasting feelings for Mac. She knew now that she liked the idea of Mac more than anything. To her, he had represented stability in one hot package. He was the ideal husband material, just not for her. After the hell that Ava had gone through in her life, she deserved to be with the man who had been by her side the whole time. It was their moment to be happy, and Gwen just couldn’t begrudge them that. It might take some time before they could all comfortably enjoy one another’s company, but she felt confident that if she continued her relationship with Dominic, it would happen. Ava was correct; they were all too closely connected to have tension between them.

Gwen grimaced as she took a taste of her now cold soup. Her sandwich looked equally as unappetizing. Beside her, Ava picked at her salad before wrinkling her nose. “Now that we’ve talked and you didn’t stab me with your fork, I’m starving. I’d kill for a big greasy burger from Jack’s across the street.”

Knowing she should probably be embarrassed by her eagerness, Gwen still grabbed her wallet from her purse and threw enough money on the table to cover both of their meals. “I’d much rather have that, but I was afraid you were dedicated to the salad route.”

“Ugh, no.” Ava stood quickly, almost knocking her chair over. “I just ordered the first thing on the menu. I was too nervous to even think about food.”

Gwen stood and quickly rounded the table. “By all means, lead the way,” she motioned as she followed Ava out the door and across the street.

Maybe the other woman was okay, after all. She seemed far removed from the ice queen that Gwen had thought her to be. No one who enjoyed a good hamburger could be all bad.

Chapter Eight

It was early Saturday morning and Gwen was buried beneath her comforter when someone knocked at her door. She opened one eye to look at the bedside clock. It was just after eight so a visitor this early in the morning couldn’t be good news. She was afraid that it was Shannon needing a babysitter, which would make for a long Saturday. Or it could be Dominic. There had been a security issue at one of their locations last night, and he had left around midnight to check it out. He had said he would go to his place afterward to keep from waking her again. She had wanted to argue that he should come back since she was now pitifully spoiled and accustomed to waking up to his handsome face, and sweet heaven, he almost always put his morning wood to new and creative uses. He was most definitely a morning person. But she didn’t want to force the issue.

When another round of knocking reached her ears, Gwen reluctantly crawled from her warm cocoon and stumbled to the door. A quick look through the peephole showed a handsome man and made her heart skip a beat. Without a thought about her appearance or smoothing down her mass of hair, she unchained the door and threw it open. She unconsciously licked her lips at the sight of Dominic on her doorstep in faded jeans and a close fitting T-shirt. Black boots perfectly complemented his outfit, as did the day’s growth of scruff on his face. “Morning, baby,” he drawled as his eyes slid down her body. She knew that her tank top and skimpy sleep shorts left little to the imagination, but she saw nothing but approval and lust in his stare.