Page 91 of Ignite

Even if that meant giving up on the one man who made me feel alive. Ethan.

“Could you ever have forgiven me for cheating on you?” Darin said after a long pause. The brownies were in the oven and Trixi had joined Darin at the breakfast bar. I flushed at the question, and she almost slurped her tea.What the?

“Never.” I held his gaze and avoided his fiancé’s

“Because—?”

“Because you could never turn back time and not be a cheater.” There. I had to say it.

“What about Ethan?”

“He’s never cheated.”

“But can he go back in time and sign up for the brigade? Can he go back in time and get your daddy’s approval?”

“He doesn’t have to go back in time, he’s got all the time in the …”

Damn it.

Darin could still reel me in, trap me into losing an argument I thought I’d won.

“I hate you.” Only, this time I could say the words without malice or meaning.

“I hate being replaced, but he’s good for you.”

“He’s not my …”

“Ophelia Rylee Mettner. You’d eat any man who was stupid crazy enough to fall in love with you without keeping his balls under lock and key.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“I might have been drunk as fuck when I got here, but I still saw the way he looked at you.”

“Like?”

“Like the way I never could and never will.” He looked over to Trixi. “Time to take me home to bed?”

“Are you ready to start planning our wedding?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Darin said. I didn’t flinch when they kissed. By now, Darin didn’t feel like an ex, but like my oldest friend. “I’m sorry for being a dick before.”

Trixi only laughed, still hugging her man she twisted her face to look at me. “Thanks for looking after him earlier tonight. Is it okay to leave his car here?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Chapter 24

We're Done

“Ican’tmakeitany clearer. Today is the day we’ve been planning for. Keep your pets inside, your gutters clear and your mobile phones charged. Here’s to hoping our brave firefighters got a good night’s sleep. Stay tuned for more …”

Ethan

What’s the definition of insanity? Doing something a second time and thinking the outcome would change.

I intended to drop by Rylee’s house and have a second chance at thanking her for my revamped ute.

On my front seat sat a box of her favorite herbal tea, and a bunch of flowers—not the supermarket variety, but the first I’d grabbed when the florist finally opened.

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