Talia’s right.
I like him.
And not in the way I like a great airport lounge or finding an empty row on a red-eye flight.
I like him in a way that scares the absolute hell out of me.
In a way that makes me feel restless and reckless and way too aware that this isn’t some temporary, fleeting thing.
Because if it were?
I wouldn’t feel like I was coming apart at the seams just because he told me to go home.
Talia sighs. “I get it, you know.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Do you?”
“Yeah. You’re not used to wanting something you can’t just walk away from.”
The words hit like a gut punch.
Because she’s right. She’s so damn right.
I’ve spent my entire life leaving before things got too real. I’m always on the move.
Always running. Always keeping my world big enough that no one person could ever become the center of it.
Until now.
Until Grant Maddox walked into my life, kissed me like he already knew how I liked to be kissed, and ruined me for anyone else.
I swallow hard. “So… what the hell do I do now?”
Talia snorts. “Oh, babe. The answer’s easy. You stop running. And you start fighting.”
Chapter 22 – Kenzie
Iwake up with one thought.
No more running. No more distractions. No more avoidance. No more pretending that I don’t already know what I want.
Because I do.
I want him. All of him.
And I’m done fighting it. I push back the covers, sitting up, stretching my legs out in front of me.
This is new. This feeling of certainty. Of knowing exactly what I need to do. Of not trying to talk myself out of it.
I’ve spent my entire life avoiding attachment. Keeping everything surface level, fleeting, easy.
Grant? He was never easy.
And maybe that’s why I couldn’t stop thinking about him from the second I walked out of that damn rink.
Because he didn’t chase me.
Didn’t let me off the hook.