Page 112 of The Heart Breaker

I can’t go home. Not with Isabella and Ryan there. They’ll take one look at me and know something’s wrong, and then they’ll ask, and I’ll have to say it out loud.

I can’t. Not yet.

So I keep walking, barely paying attention to where I’m going until the streets start looking familiar, and I realize that I’m heading toward Cole’s place.

I don’t even know if he’ll want me there after the way we left things. I don’t know what I’m going to say when I get there, or if I’ll say anything at all.

I just know I need to see him.

Right now, he’s the only person I want.

30

COLE

What do girls even want for Valentine’s Day?

I pop my hand behind my head, scrolling through page after page of gift ideas that somehow keep getting worse. Half this crap looks like it was dragged straight out of a drugstore clearance bin.

None of it feels like her.

I drop onto my chest and stare at the ceiling.

I am so far out of my depth here.

I don’t even know why I’m looking for gifts for her. We’re not dating. I made that painfully clear about an hour ago, when she looked at me with those sharp blue eyes and said she was going to see her ex.

I wanted to tell her not to go. Wanted to tell her to take me with her so I could make it very clear to him that whatever claim he thinks he still has on her is dead.

I didn’t want her in a room alone with him. Didn’t want him near her. Didn’t want him looking at her, talking to her, touching her, acting like he still has access to any part of her.

But I didn’t say any of it.

I acted like I didn’t care, and I let her walk out.

My thumb pauses over a silver necklace before I scroll past it. Aurora only wears gold. I know that because she’s almost always got those little gold hoops in, and once I notice something about her, apparently my brain decides to keep it forever. I wonder if she wears rings. I stop on a gold one with a carved heart and stare at it for a second too long.

Maybe I could get her a ring.

Which is an insane thought to have, considering she’s not my girlfriend, and as far as I know, she’s currently in some hotel room with her ex while I’m lying here looking up Valentine’s gifts for her.

I hear a knock at my door and exit the page, my gaze dropping to Aurora’s overnight bag still sitting on the floor. My whole body tightens. For half a second, I think maybe she’s just here to grab it and leave again.

I push off the couch, cross the room, and pull the door open. But I stop when I see Aurora standing there soaked through, wet strands stuck to her cheeks and neck. Water catches on her lashes, trails down her throat, and my heart stops dead in my chest when I glance up and see her red, glossy eyes.

My grip tightens on the door. “What happened?”

She doesn’t answer. She just shakes her head and pushes past me into the apartment, dripping rainwater across the floor, and before I can even shut the door, her bag hits the ground and her hands are on me. She grabs at the front of my shirt, trying to shove it up.

“What are you doing?” I ask when she goes straight for the button of my jeans.

“Want you to fuck me.”

I can’t do anything but stare at her, because there’s no way she actually means that.

But I can see the determination in her eyes the way she’s trying to undress me as quickly as possible. Normally I’m all for it, but something feels wrong.

“Wait.” I catch her wrists. “Hold up.”