Page 101 of Make It Last

“Do you think they heard us?” she asked once we were tucked back under the covers.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “And I don’t care.”

We lay there in the darkness, talking in soft whispers about everything and nothing. She asked about the fire, about the minor gash on my shoulder and the bandage on my forearm. I told her it was nothing. Just part of the job.

She told me about Laney at the restaurant. Finally, I told her about the phone situation and how it had all been fixed.

“She blocked my number from yours?” Ava was aghast.

“I know. I’m an idiot. You know how it is, though,” I whispered. “You set up an account, put it on autopay, and?—”

“Forget about it.” She finished my sentence for me.

“The password is changed on the account. She’s been off the account for years, but I just forgot about that part.”

Ava shook her head slowly. “She really wants you back.”

“No.” I adjusted so I was facing her. “I don’t think so. I think it wasn’t going as easily as she thought with moving away. Whoever she was with broke up with her, and she’s licking her wounds. She wanted what she thought was a sure thing.”

“Which was you,” Ava said.

“I guess, but she broke up with me, and I’m still that guy.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Tanner

Growly doesn’t care

“You’re the guy for me,” Ava said, leaning in and pressing her lips to mine.

We kissed languidly, the kind of kiss that could stretch for hours. I took slow sips from her mouth and savored the soft tangle of her legs with mine. Her hands started wandering again.

“Ava,” I warned softly.

“No?” she teased.

“We need privacy.”

“When we go back, Growly will be there,” she pointed out.

“Growly doesn’t care.”

She burst into giggles and had to press her face into my chest to muffle them. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much, Tanner,” she whispered.

“I’ve missed you too.”

“I can’t believe I started to get insecure about us.”

“Well, I was out at a fire.” I studied her face. “How do you feel about that, by the way?”

“About what?”

“I have a job that means I’m going to be gone for chunks of time during fire season.”

“It’s your job, and it’s totally sexy.” She waggled her brows.

A chuckle rustled in my throat.