Page 13 of The Rookie

I see her sitting at the bar, maybe, legs crossed, one hand wrapped around the stem of a wine glass. She looks up, catches my eye from across the room. There’s no hesitation, no questions. Just instant, electric recognition.

I watch her lips curve into a slow, knowing smirk. And just like that, the game begins.

I imagine the way I’d walk over, no introductions needed, no small talk. Just intention.

How she’d let me slide a hand along the small of her back as I lean in, my lips brushing just close enough to her ear that she shivers.

How she’d follow me—without a word—away from the bar, through a discreet hallway, past the kitchen doors.

And then, we wouldn’t be strangers anymore.

My back would hit the cool wall of the dimly lit hallway as she presses into me, fingers curling into my shirt, dragging me down into a kiss that’s all heat, all urgency.

Her breathless little sighs. My hands gripping her hips, pulling her flush against me.

The way she’d melt into it like she’d been waiting for this moment her whole life.

And maybe—just maybe—we wouldn’t stop at just a kiss.

I’d bring her somewhere private and spin her around—have her face the mirror in the bathroom so she could watch me. Watchus.I’d roll her short little skirt up, revealing that perfect ass and?—

I exhale sharply, running a hand over my face as I snap back to reality.

Jesus.

I need a cold fucking shower.

I sit up, swing my legs over the side of the bed, trying to shake it off, but it’s too late. The damage is done.

My mind is wrecked with images of her—Avery, in that dimly lit restaurant, her body pressed against mine, her lips parting on a breathless sigh.

I scrub a hand over my jaw, forcing myself to focus on something else,anything else.

And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see her.

She’s curled up under the thin sheet, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, completely lost to sleep.

Peaceful. Unbothered.

Like she isn’t the reason I’m sitting here at two in the damn morning, trying to get my pulse under control.

Like she hasn’t unknowingly embedded herself into the darkest corners of my brain, her words—the ones she wrote in secret—branding themselves into my skin.

Like she isn’t the very thing keeping me awake right now.

I shake my head, dragging a hand through my hair as I glance at her one last time.

If only she knew.

Because really, I don’t just want to be a stranger in her fantasy.

I want to be the one she chooses.

And that realization?

It’s going to ruin me.

Because it’s like no matter what I do, the woman hates me.

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