Page 5 of Chasing his Ex

We had lots of plans that we were going to do together.

Until that fateful night.

“Is he the reason you want to remain friends?” he asks, bringing me back to the present.

Friends?

I smile.

“We agreed to be friends, not just me. It was a mutual agreement. In fact, I would say it was you. You just got out of your marriage and wanted nothing else. I was happy with that.”

“Why were you happy with that? Why have you never fought for anything else?”

“Because... it’s all I need...”

“And me... what if I need more?”

I swallow as I know how men’s minds work. I know how Ava gets under your skin. She’s got to him and he hadn’t realized until I was there that she had.

“You were more than happy with this arrangement we have until I had a two-minute conversation with my ex-boyfriend.”

“How many ex-boyfriends do you have?”

“One.”

She’s had no other boyfriends until now. I must have really hurt her that night—but she hurt me, too.

“Come to the US with me,” her friend says. “I think it’s time for us to take it to the next level.”

I splutter, coffee splattering over the table as I crouch low and crawl into the coffee shop before they see me.

I’ve already lost her once. She never gave me a chance to make it right then. If I don’t do something soon, she’ll never give us another try.

But I saw the way she looked at me. I also know, despite the years apart, that Ava has always been mine.

Chapter 3

Ava

It’s been a few days since I’ve seen Finn and there’s not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought of him and wondered which office he had visited that day.

I searched his father’s law firm and Finn’s name doesn’t come up on the website, though unless he’s a partner or a senior lawyer, that makes sense. But I expect his father would have promoted him if he worked for him and I wonder if he didn’t follow his father into law in the end.

I look around the lobby of the building, wondering if I’ll glimpse him, but it seems like it was a one-off. That thought makes my heart drop like wet cement has coated it.

I saunter to the elevator, pressing the button for level thirty-seven, one of the highest floors in the building.

My cell phone dings.

Jameson: Saturday, 7pm. Are you free to attend a corporate dinner with me?

I tap the cell phone against my chin and smile.

Me: Mr. Secretive wants to take a date to a fancy function.

Jameson: Not a secret, and I’ve been thinking about that.

Do I want to know?

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