Page 61 of Too Little Too Soon
“I did,” Ava confirmed. “I fell for your ploy just as well as your stalker did.” She was practically vibrating. With rage? With sadness?
He had no fucking clue. Just like he had no fucking clue how to get himself out of this predicament. How to make things right with her.
How to tell her that yes, it had started as a ploy, but that was not how it ended. Hell, even as he’d made the decision to play this stupid game, he’d wanted it to be real.
She was definitely not in the right frame of mind to hear that from him. And he didn’t blame her one bit.
“Hey,” Holly said, smacking Sam on the chest with the back of her hand. “We should get out of here. Go into town for snacks or something. The four of us. Except for Ava and Travis.”
She stood, but Ava shook her head. “No. You stay here. It’s your rental. Maria, Oz, would you mind taking me to my rental so I can pick up my things and come stay with you?”
“Not at all,” Maria said, already on her feet.
Holly hurried over and hugged Ava. The two sisters whispered for a moment. Travis had no idea what was said.
Nor did he have any idea what to say. What to do.
Ava stalked over and snatched her purse off the couch next to him. She pointed at him. “I do not want to see you. At all. Do not come after us. I will be out of the rental ten minutes after we get there. Then you can leave.”
She swiveled on her heel, and he watched her leave the treehouse, Oz and Maria in her wake.
“Damn,” Sam said after they were gone. “You really fucked up.”
“Did you really pretend to be in love with Ava so you could scare off your stalker?” Holly demanded, glaring at him.
“No. I never pretended to be in love with her.” Fuck no.
He stared down into his empty glass.
“It was all real.”
“Except for the part where Ava didn’t know the plan,” Sam pointed out.
Travis grabbed the bottle, splashed more bourbon into his glass. “Yeah, except for that.”
“She’s in love with you,” Holly practically snarled. Damn, these sisters were protective of one another. Ava was lucky to have them.
“She’s not—” But she’d almost said it, earlier today.
He heard her.
And he’d smiled.
Because he wanted to hear those words from her.
And he wanted her to mean them.
“Fuck.” He dropped his head against the couch cushions. “I did fuck up. Spectacularly.”
“What were you thinking?” Holly demanded.
“I was thinking that my stalker scared the shit out of me. And Mitch didn’t want any bad publicity for the band. And I really did consider telling her the plan, but I was afraid she’d say no.”
“You’re an idiot,” Holly snapped.
“You need to tell her,” Sam said.
“Uh-uh,” Holly said, shaking her head. “You need to give her breathing room. Ava holds a grudge, and if she’s really in love with you, you need to give her a wide berth for a while. Let her cool off. Otherwise, you’ll only make it worse.”
