Page 94 of Face Off

The answer softened something in Bliss’s expression before excitement immediately reclaimed her. “I’m coming over.”

“You’re supposed to be with your groom.”

“Cade is downstairs with his father.”

Aura was already moving. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”

“You’re on the other side of the estate.”

“Then seven.”

The call ended.

I carried my phone toward the bed and lowered myself carefully onto the edge. My body still remembered every demanding movement of Ryan’s, while the rest of me remained caught inside the hug he gave me before he left.

That had been the dangerous part.

Sex could be given a boundary. Ryan had made his brutally clear. One weekend. No promises. No forgiveness. No guarantee that anything would follow us to the airport.

Holding me had contradicted every word.

I pressed both hands against my face and released a laugh that sounded dangerously close to crying.

Ryan wanted closure.

He had looked at me in the hallway and admitted, without intending to, that he wanted to know what we would’ve been without lies, fear, and everyone else’s judgment standing between us. He believed experiencing that version of us would allow him to return to Milwaukee with an answer and finally put me behind him.

I understood why he needed to believe it.

I also knew Ryan.

He could call this fucking because that word felt safer than hope. He could insist three days had an expiration date and use anger to keep every softer emotion buried beneath it. None of that changed the way his arms closed around me when I hugged him or the way he admitted no girlfriend was waiting for him to come home.

His body had not been the only part of him inside this room.

Pretending otherwise might protect him tonight.

It wouldn’t survive the entire weekend.

A knock struck the door several minutes later.

“If he came back, make him put on pants before you let us in,” Aura called from the corridor.

I tightened his shirt and opened the door.

Aura stood in black leggings and one of Easton’s KFU shirts, her sleek hair wrapped beneath a silk scarf. Bliss had changed into pale pink pajama shorts and a matching top, although her makeup and hair remained perfect enough to greet another hundred guests.

Both of them looked past me.

“He left,” I said.

Aura’s gaze dropped to the dress on the floor. “Evidence suggests he was here.”

Bliss slipped past me and immediately began collecting my clothes. She lifted the dress, inspected the zipper and seams, then released a relieved breath. “He really didn’t damage it.”

“He said he wouldn’t.”

Aura closed the door. “That man was angry enough to fuck you against solid oak but paused to respect garment construction.”