Page 105 of Hunter or Hunted

As Gwen skipped down the steps, Edwards approached Simone, giving a smile as well. “I just wanted to say congratulations. Kind of a weird thing to congratulate, I guess, but you won, and you deserve a congrats.”

“No weirder than the mess that brought me here.” Fixing her purse higher on her shoulder, Simone crossed her arms. “But yeah, thank you. It’s a relief. The custody dismissal more than anything.”

“I wasn’t worried about that part.” Edwards awkwardly stowed his hands in his pockets. “You’re a great mom. No one’s gonna take your baby away.”

The cool wind floated jet-black hair before her face. “That means a lot. Thanks.”

“It’s just the truth.”

Simone nodded slowly. Obviously, because how else would she respond to that?

“Look, uh,” Edwards began, wetting his suddenly dry lips. “I’m sorry about New Year’s. The way it all panned out, the way I reacted⁠—”

“We don’t have to do this.” Simone frowned and shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I appreciate that you stood up to her and everything, but you shouldn’t have had to. We should just go back to how things were, you know? Before it got messy and weird and now we’re avoiding eye contact when we pass on the street, and I don’t want that.”

Edwards swallowed hard. “You wanna go back to how things were?”

“It’s better than how things have been, right?”

An odd sound escaped him. Something between a laugh and a huff. “It’s not where I wanted things to go.”

Simone nibbled her bottom lip, raising her shoulder. “It’s how things turned out.”

“But I don’t want things to be like this,” Edwards said. “I want—I wanna take you on that date.”

Silence.

She stared deep into his eyes, and he swore he saw that same desire in hers. Simone wanted what Edwards wanted. He knew it. He knew she wanted it too, but she said nothing.

“I should’ve asked you on a date to begin with,” he said. “I thought the party would be cool, ya know? Me and Sebastian, you and Gwen. I thought it’d break the ice. And I figured it’d be a low-pressure way for Junie to get used to me being around. But it just created a lot more tension, and that’s neither of our fault. It would’ve been great, it was⁠—”

“It was messy.” She accented that word with a certain clarity. The same clarity in her voice when she spoke it a few moments prior. “It’s all messy with me, Edwards. I’m messy. My life, my kid, everything about me is messy, and you don’t want this⁠—”

“I do,” he said quickly, certainly. “I want you and all the mess that comes with you.”

Her frown stayed, but a sigh accompanied it now. “Edwards⁠—”

“Just wait a second. Hear me out, alright?” He reached out, hands slow and hesitant as they closed around her shoulders. “I knew what I was getting into. The moment I met you, I knew all the baggage. I read the reports you filed against David. I took your statement. I know what you’ve been through, and I know that shit never really goes away.”

“Then why?” Her tone stayed soft, almost neutral. Not confused, not combative, but soft. Because she wanted this too. “You’re good, Edwards. You’re a good man. You’ve got a good life and a good job and just a good everything. You can fit your baggage in a carry-on, and I need an entire plane for mine. Not to mention Junie’s. And just because you can rationally understand what I’ve got going on doesn’t mean you wanna carry it, and that’s okay. You don’t have to want this.”

“But I do want it,” he said. “I can’t tell you why.”

And he couldn’t. He didn’t know what it was about Simone that made his heart skip a beat or heat rise to his cheeks.

So many things about his feelings for Simone made sense.

Her best friend was dating his best friend. At least, his old best friend. He and Sebastian drifted after Sebastian took in Lizzie because back then, he wasn’t ready for that stage of life. He’d wanted independence in his twenties, but now, forty was right around the corner, and he wanted companionship. Family.

Simone did too. She already had one, a beautiful one, no matter how messy its origin.

And that was the only thing that didn’t make sense. He shouldn’t have wanted the mess.

But that was just it.

Simone wasn’t messy. She saw herself that way because of her past, but she’d busted her ass to clean up that chaos. She was free of it now. Even the courts agreed.

“That’s the problem, Edwards,” Simone said. “You can’t say why because⁠—”