Page 23 of Wild Heart

There was a long pause. I could feel Liam’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “How exactly would you say you’re doing with accomplishing that? Because I’ve got to tell you, it seems like you haven’t put aside your differences at all. It looks like the two of you have avoided each other altogether.”

“I’m working on that.”

“By standing here with your hands in your pockets?” he questioned me. Liam turned fully to face me, clapped his hand on my shoulder again, and said, “Don’t screw this up, Tate. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

My brother squeezed my shoulder and walked off, his own misery enough for him to contend with on a day like today.

I remained in the same spot, continuing to watch Ava and not caring who saw.

Last night, I’d convinced myself I’d done something good by talking to her before she left. I’d led myself to believe it’d all be fine today, that everything would be back to normal. I had hoped to ease us back to some place good, but I hadn’t taken any action to get us back to being a version of the people we used to be toward one another.

It wasn’t even close to being that.

Liam was right. Ava and I hadn’t exactly put our differences aside; we were just avoiding each other.

I needed to do something about it. I needed to make a statement to her that told her it was going to be okay between us. Maybe we wouldn’t fix everything before she went back to finish up the final week of the tour, but at least she could be reassured it’d be better once she returned.

Avoidance was no longer an option. As the song began to wind down, I decided this was the moment. The upbeat vibe of the fast-paced song that had been playing was dwindling as a slow song flowed in to take its place.

If what I’d seen every other time that had happened throughout the evening was going to happen again, it would mean Ava would head to the bar and grab a drink.

Ava didn’t normally drink. I’d spent years learning everything I could about her. She mostly avoided alcohol.

But tonight was different, and I didn’t have to pretend not to know why.

She’d had three drinks already, and for someone her size, it had to be affecting her.

Before she could get too far, I moved. Ava hadn’t made it even halfway across the dance floor before I reached for her wrist and stopped her.

Surprise washed over her expression, her body tensing. “Tate.”

“Can I have this dance, Ava?”

Confusion marred her features. “But you… You don’t dance.”

“Sure, I do.”

“Since when?”

“Today?”

Ava licked her beautiful lips as she assessed me, my eyes dropping to them and my fingers tightening slightly around her wrist. “There’s a room full of other women for you to dance with.”

“But I want to dance with you.”

“Why?”

“A couple of reasons, the first being that you and I came to an agreement last night that we were going to put aside our differences today for the sake of Wyatt and Rhea.”

“Yes, but I don’t feel like I’ve been doing anything to indicate I have a problem with you,” she reasoned.

“Not accepting a dance with me might say the opposite.”

Recognizing she couldn’t turn me down now if she intended to stay true to her word, Ava yanked slightly on her wrist and turned her body fully to face mine.

I smiled, stepped forward, and slid my arm around her waist. We moved our bodies to the music for several moments, and I relished the feel of having her so close to me again. I savored the feminine scent of her, appreciated the closeness of our bodies, and took immense pleasure in having her hands on me again,one resting on my outer shoulder the other being held firmly against my own. “See? I told you I could dance.”

“And yet you’ve never done it with me before now. What were your other reasons?”