His Forbidden Love (Manhattan Billionaires #2) - Ava Ryan Page 0,27

an eye, as Mia and Liam recently demonstrated. “Well, best wishes to you and…?”

“Bruce,” Ally supplies.

“Best wishes to you and Bruce,” Mia says.

“Thanks,” Ally says, but her smile seems fragile as she turns to go, as though the arrangement of her lips, teeth and dimples is a house of cards susceptible to the slightest bump. “I’d better check on those patients. Enjoy your lunch.”

My sister barely waits until Ally heads for another cubicle before turning to me.

“That’s her, isn’t it?” she says with the fervor of a manic Elvis fan who thinks she’s spotted the King hanging around a Vegas casino. “The woman you like? The one you used to work with back when you were married? I could tell by the way you looked at her.”

There’s only one appropriate answer when my sister gets like this. If I don’t shut down this inquisition right now, I’ll find myself strapped in and stretched out on a rack with her hand on the crank before dinnertime.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Should we hit up the taco place?”

“Because she’s not in love with her boyfriend,” she says urgently. “You get that, don’t you?”

I falter, breaking cover as a cool cat because I don’t know that, and I could use Mia’s insight here if she has any.

“Excuse me?” I say with the little nonchalance I can muster.

“You’re such an idiot,” she says, smacking my shoulder for emphasis. I’d prefer not to be physically abused by my sister in front of my work colleagues, but I’m willing to make the sacrifice if it helps me get Ally. “Did you hear her answer about her boyfriend just now? She doesn’t want to marry him. She’s not in love with him. If she were, she’d giggle and say something like ‘it’s early days yet’ or ‘don’t jinx me.’ She wouldn’t act like I’d suggested she marry her first cousin.”

I frown, staring at the cubicle Ally disappeared into. Is that true? Could Mia be right?

“You know I’m right,” Mia says, following my line of sight. “Don’t screw this up. You’ve been divorced long enough to know that the dating world sucks. And I really like Ally. She’s warm and sweet and funny. Not like Patricia, who was cold, aloof and bitchy. Ally is a good match for you and your strong and silent façade.”

“My what?” I say, trying to decide whether to be offended.

“She’s way better than Patricia ever was,” she continues. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

I repress a cringe as I think about my ex. She was a blond and blue-eyed Charlize Theron type, meaning that she was drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, she had all the human warmth and compassion of a marble statue dipped in concrete, as I’ve mentioned. Something I probably would have noticed sooner if I’d been older and not so enamored of her looks.

She was no Ally. That’s for damn sure.

“You need Ally in your life,” my sister adds, now staring me down. “You know you do. Don’t pretend you don’t.”

Pretend. Huh. Yeah. I’m sick of pretending that I don’t have feelings for Ally. Sick of trying to be the good guy here. Sick of not knowing whether the things I experience with her are all in my head or whether she feels them to.

I don’t know where things are going between me and Ally. I just know that they can’t stay where they are.

Not if I want to stay sane.

In a sign of my growing turmoil, I drop the act with my sister. Hell, I’ve got nothing to lose. Neither one of us believes my routine anyway.

“I want her to be happy. If she’s happy with him, then I’m happy for her. I’m not trying to disrupt her life,” I say. “I’m just coming off a divorce. I’ve got nothing to offer her. She deserves someone who’s all in. Someone that’s not me.”

Mia hits me with one of those looks that’s full of smiling eyes, bottomless empathy and support.

“It’s up to Ally to decide who she needs in her life, choirboy.” She squeezes my arm. I find the unexpected touch surprisingly comforting. “If she’s got everything she needs with her boyfriend, then there’s no opening for you to disrupt anything. Is there? And if it were me, I’d want to know I had a chance to explore a connection with a great guy like you before taking things too far with some other guy. I imagine she’s attracted to you, if nothing else. Anyone