Page 352 of Double or Nothing

His face falls.

“No!”

The answer comes without hesitation.

“No, Jack,” he says. “I knew you’d think that, which is why I couldn’t message you. Every response sounded as though I was coming here because I’d lost my job. As though Parker Capital had thrown me out and I needed you to give me something else. Make it better.”

“Did they throw you out?”

“No. I left. Believe me.”

“Good.”

“I didn’t resign because of you.”

“I know. If you had, you’d have been here weeks ago.”

“No, you don’t. You can’t. I’ve spent the past hour trying to work out how to explain it, and every version sounded wrong.”

His foot taps faster.

“I should’ve been here a long time ago,” he says. “I just didn’t realise it.”

That does it.

A smirk breaks through. Small at first, tugging at one corner of my mouth before I can stop it.

Bryce notices.

His shoulders drop by a fraction.

“Hate to say I told you so,” I say.

He closes his eyes.

“You don’t hate it. You love being right.”

“You’re right. I adore it. One of life’s purest pleasures.”

The tension fractures.

Bryce laughs.

It’s barely more than a breath, but the sound fills every empty space in the office.

I walk towards him.

Bryce’s laughter disappears as he watches me approach.

“I mean it, Jack. I’m not expecting anything. I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow or where I’m going to work, and I’m not asking you to solve any of that. I only wanted to see you and tell you I’m sorry, and that I read every message, and I…”

I place one hand against the side of his face.

Bryce goes silent.

His skin is warm beneath my palm. Familiar enough to hurt.

I kiss him.