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“Only in my back.”

A chuckle vibrated past my lips before dying out. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, my mouth, or my heart. My arms swung awkwardly as I fumbled for something else to say. “So, we haven’t burned the studio down yet.”

“I’m impressed.” Reed folded his arms, looking fidgety. The toe of his boot scuffed across the shiny floor as his jaw ticked. “Your form is good.”

“My form?” My form. Sparring. Training. Business. “Right.” I cleared my throat, dragging my gaze to the far wall for no other reason than to avoid getting sucked into his pale-jade stare. “I did learn from the best.”

He was staring at me in my periphery. Hard lines, firm muscle, stiff stance. But softness emanated from the places where it counted—within the hair’s-breadth parting of his full lips, the muted glow of his irises, and the whispery exhale that mellowed out his chest.

He was striking.

Stunning.

Standing right in front of me.

My hands curled, tension infiltrating my muscles and joints. “Well, I’m sure you have a lot to do. I don’t want to keep you.”

Lies.

I wanted to keep him. Forever. For always.

Reed’s lips opened a fraction more, but the words he wanted to say dissolved. I watched them draw lines in the space between us, penning his deepest secrets, before evaporating into nothingness. “Yeah…I need to go over those designs.”

“Of course.” I coughed because that was what people did when they avoided saying the hard things. “It was really great to see you.”

Then I ducked my chin and shuffled past him with no destination in mind. No long-stretching road, no detailed map, no compass would ever lead me back to him. It didn’t matter where I went.

But his arm snaked out and snagged my wrist before I moved out of sight. Our eyes met. I held my breath and swallowed, every inch of me focused on his fingers coiled around my trembling wrist.

“Did you, um…” He blinked several times, lost in the eye contact. “Did you receive the package I sent you? The letter?”

Emotion stomped on my chest, bruising me deep. I nodded lightly. “Yes. Thank you.”

His lips twitched before his hand dropped away from me in a slow-motion slide. “Yeah,” he said. “You’re welcome.”

And that was it.

With a roll of his neck, he pivoted away, heading toward the office. I watched him go with a knife between my ribs, then turned in the opposite direction.

“You know what?” Reed spun back around and stalked toward me, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. “Fuck it.”

“Fuck it?” I blinked, spinning around to face him. “Fuck what?”

“This. It’s stupid. You’re here, and I’m here, and we have history.”

“Okay,” I breathed out.

“I miss you.”

My eyebrows hiked up, meeting my hairline. “I…miss you, too.”

“Good. Have dinner with me tonight.”

I went quiet.

Oh.

Comets and shooting stars barreled through my chest, settling in my throat as I squeaked out a gasp of surprise. “Oh.”