CHAPTER THREE

      HE HADN’T CHANGED one bit.

      No, Ava thought as Noah stood, her eyes flitting over him. He had changed. Though she now remembered how greedily she’d taken in his muscles earlier, she’d forgotten about them between then and now.

      Possibly because he was wearing one of his colleague’s ill-fitting T-shirts.

      Probably because she’d been too distracted by his face.

      It had happened before, too many times to count. And Ava didn’t even blame herself for it. How could she? Objectively, Noah had the prettiest face she’d ever seen. And though the word didn’t seem to fit with the rest of him—not any more, since the strong, muscular body he had now was more rugged than the lithe one he’d had when they were younger—she couldn’t deny the perfect lines and angles of his face were pretty.

      But just because she couldn’t blame herself for it didn’t mean she didn’t find it annoying. It was. Because if he hadn’t been so pretty she might not have found herself still having this absurd crush. Years later.

      And then he walked towards her, rubbed a hand down her arm, and said something in that deliciously deep voice of his. And the voice in her head that had called her a liar when she’d put her crush down to just his looks laughed and laughed.

       Damn it.

      ‘Avalanche?’

      ‘Hmm?’ She shook her head. ‘Oh. You said something?’ If only she could remember what. ‘Yes.’

      ‘Yes?’ His hand dropped. ‘What do you mean, yes?’

      Double damn it. Clearly her guess had been wrong.

      ‘I mean, yes—’ She exhaled sharply when she couldn’t think of an appropriate cover-up. ‘Yes, I have no idea what you said and my attempt at hiding it has failed miserably.’

      He stared at her, and then he laughed. ‘Clearly you’re the same old Ava. Honest even when it doesn’t benefit you.’

       ‘Would it kill you to not be so blunt? No one needs you to be this honest.’

      ‘Yes, that’s me,’ she said brightly, hoping it would banish the darkness of Milo’s voice in her head. The memories that voice inevitably evoked. The pretence of the rest of her wedding day. The weeks after, when she’d looked in the mirror and asked herself why she couldn’t be different. Better. Easier. ‘Would you repeat what you said?’

      ‘I asked where you’ll be staying tonight?’

      ‘Jaden’s,’ she said automatically. But then she shook her head. ‘No, Jaden isn’t here. He and Leela are staying over at the vineyard their wedding is going to be at. They want a better idea of what their wedding will feel like.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘As if it will change anything. The wedding’s two weeks away. What are they going to do if it doesn’t “feel” right?’ She sighed. ‘I guess I’ll be staying at a hotel.’

      ‘Why not your mom and dad’s?’

      ‘They’re with Jaden and Leela at the wedding venue.’

      ‘Sounds horrific.’

      ‘Yes,’ she agreed with a small smile. ‘I can’t imagine anything worse than a wedding at Christmastime.’

      She knew that because her wedding had been at Christmastime. And not only had her day been spoiled, but her entire festive season. She was still not prepared to spend the first anniversary of her being jilted at another wedding. With the same guests. And the same whispers.

      But she had no choice. Her brother was getting married.

      ‘Of course, the fact that this isn’t exactly a romantic weekend for Jaden and Leela sucks, too. My parents and Leela’s parents are there, so Jaden and Leela probably had to get separate bedrooms.’

      It hadn’t occurred to her before, but it amused her now.

      ‘Oh, no,’ Noah said with a frown. ‘Your parents can’t think—?’ He broke off when she gave him a look. ‘Apparently they can.’

      ‘Unfortunately, my parents can and will believe whatever they want of their children.’

      Like the way they thought the collapse of Ava’s wedding had been because of Milo’s faults and not Ava’s. And how they still didn’t see anything wrong with how grumpy she was—or wonder how much easier she could have been—even after a broken engagement.

      ‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘no one’s there. And my access to all those places are locked in the drawer next to my bed.’ She closed her eyes briefly. ‘So, yes, a hotel.’

      ‘What about Zorro?’

      She lifted a brow. ‘Are you still looking out for him?’

      ‘I’m looking out for you.’

      She thought she saw him hesitate before he continued.

      ‘You’re my best friend’s sister. There’s an unspoken moral code that requires me to help you when your brother can’t.’

      ‘I’d like to think that moral code comes from the fact that you and I were friends once, too,’ she said slowly. ‘It doesn’t matter anyway,’ she added, when the thought had her stomach twisting. ‘The vet wants to keep Zorro overnight. He wants to make sure he’s okay.’

      ‘Are you okay with that?’

      ‘Of course I am.’

      ‘Sure,’ he said easily. ‘So there’s no part of you that’s worried about him?’

      When her spoken agreement got caught by the emotion in her throat, she sighed. ‘There’s a big part of me that’s worried about him. But he’s in the best place to make sure he’s okay.’

      He studied her. ‘He’ll be okay,’ he said quietly, and then, as if he understood that she wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears if they kept on talking about it, he said, ‘You should stay with me.’

      She stared him. ‘What?’

      ‘You should stay with me,’ he said again. ‘At my place.’

      ‘What place? Your dad’s?’

      ‘I’m a big boy, Ava,’ he said dryly. ‘I have a place of my own.’

      ‘I meant,’ she said deliberately, when his words sent thrills down her spine, ‘that you’ve been away for seven years. How do you have a place of your own?’

      ‘I invested in property.’

      ‘Of course you did,’ she muttered. ‘No, thanks, Noah. I think I’ll just get a hotel room.’

      ‘You don’t know how long it’ll be before you’ll be able to go home.’ He paused. ‘You might have to spend a couple of nights there.’

      ‘I’ll survive.’

      ‘What about Zorro?’

      She narrowed her eyes. ‘I told you—’

      ‘Yes, he’s staying at the vet’s tonight. But what happens tomorrow, when they call you to tell you he’s fine? That he can come home?’

      ‘I’m sure I’ll be back in my own house by then.’

      ‘But