Chapter 20

It had been a long day. The kind where your feet ache, your back complains, and your head is still full of conversations you never wanted to have.

I had just grabbed my coat from the rack near reception and was heading toward the elevator when I heard the footsteps.

“Hey,” Ryan said, catching up. “You walking home?”

I blinked. “Yeah. Just need some air.”

He fell into step beside me like it was natural, like he’d always planned to walk me home and just waited until the moment felt right.

“I figured I could tag along,” he added. “I mean, after last night’s glamour and Isabelle’s lunchtime villain monologue, I feel like you deserve a proper escort.”

I smiled. “You’re volunteering as tribute, huh?”

He grinned. “Consider it community service.”

The walk was quiet at first. Our hands brushed a few times accidentally, I think but neither of us pulled away. The city buzzed around us, but our steps fell into rhythm, comfortable and close.

“You okay?” he asked after a block.

“I am,” I said. “Or… I will be.”

He nodded like he understood exactly what I meant. Like he’d been there too.

By the time we reached Mia’s street, the sky had turned a soft navy blue, the streetlamps flickering on one by one.

We slowed as we approached the building.

From the second-floor window, I saw movement.

Then Mia’s face.

She pressed her hands to the glass dramatically, mouthing something I couldn’t quite read but I was pretty sure it was embarrassing.

“She’s watching us,” I whispered to Ryan.

“She’s your best friend. I’d be more concerned if she wasn’t watching like it’s a N*****x drama,” he replied, amused.

When I reached the front steps, I turned to face him. “Thanks for walking with me.”

He gave a crooked smile. “Thanks for letting me.”

And then…

That moment.

The one where the silence shifts, the air grows warmer, and you’re suddenly very aware of the space between your bodies and how easy it would be to erase it.

He leaned forward just slightly.

I didn’t move.

But the front door opened, and Mia’s voice rang out like a gong.

“Well, well, well. Look who has a personal security detail now. A bodyguard with dimples.”

I groaned. “Mia.”

Ryan laughed. “Goodnight, Sarah.”

His hand grazed mine as he turned away and the touch lingered longer than it should have.

**

The moment I stepped inside the apartment, Mia was already waiting for me hands on hips, eyebrows arched like I had just committed a scandal in broad daylight.

“Well, well,” she said, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter. “You gonna tell me who that tall drink of boyfriend material was, or am I just supposed to guess from the romantic tension vibrating through my window?”

I rolled my eyes, tossing my keys into the bowl near the door. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

Mia raised a brow. “Mmm-hmm. Not your boyfriend, but walking you home like some Hallmark movie hero? Come on.”

I took off my heels and collapsed onto the couch. “We work together.”

“You also blushed like a teenager the minute he smiled at you. Don’t play with me, Sarah.”

“I’m not playing,” I said, tugging a throw pillow onto my lap. “It’s just… complicated.”

Mia grabbed a pint of mint chip from the freezer and handed me a spoon. “Girl, love is always complicated. That’s why it’s fun.”

I groaned. “I didn’t say I’m in love.”

She plopped next to me. “You didn’t have to. The way you looked at him said everything. You’re halfway to doodling your name with his last name.”

I almost choked on my ice cream. “Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying,” she continued, “the chemistry is so strong I had to close my window before it fogged up.”

I gave her a look. “You are the most dramatic person I know.”

“And proud of it,” she said, digging into the ice cream. “But seriously, if you like him… why not tell him?”

I paused, staring at the ceiling. “Because… what if he doesn’t feel the same?”

Mia turned toward me, expression softening. “Then at least you know. But what if he does, Sarah? What if he’s just waiting for a sign?”

I sighed. “He’s been so kind. But that could just be who he is. What if I misread everything and end up ruining our friendship… and work?”

Mia shrugged. “Or what if this is something real and you’re letting fear keep you from it?”

I didn’t answer. Mostly because my heart was already screaming.

She nudged me with her elbow. “Come on. You can’t keep hiding behind trauma and French fries. Ryan is a cinnamon roll in human form.”

I laughed, setting the ice cream aside. “I’ll think about it.”

“You better,” she said, pointing the spoon at me. “Because if you don’t say something soon, I will. And you know I don’t hold back.”

“I know,” I said with mock dread. “You’d probably show up with balloons and a banner.”

“And karaoke,” she added proudly. “Confessions are always better with a soundtrack.”

I was still laughing when my phone buzzed.

I glanced at the screen.

It was a message from Ryan.

I opened it.

“I know it’s late, but I just wanted to say thanks again for tonight. You make long days feel like the best kind of ending.”

I read it twice.

Three times.

My heart did something wild in my chest.

Mia leaned over to read. “Oh… my… GOD. If you don’t fall for that man, I will.”

I smiled, holding the phone to my chest.

Maybe love wasn’t so far away after all.

I stared at the message, thumb hovering over the screen, heart pounding like it had suddenly forgotten how to behave like a rational adult.

“You make long days feel like the best kind of ending.”

He said that.

Mia was practically vibrating beside me, eyes locked on my expression like it was a suspense movie. “So… are we texting back, or are we playing dead?”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “What do I even say to that?”

Mia shrugged, softer now. “Maybe just the truth?”

I gave her a look. “The truth is I have no idea what I’m feeling.”

She scooted closer, bumping my knee with hers. “Then start with the part you do know. Do you like how you feel when you’re around him?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I do.”

“Then say that.”

I looked back at the screen, rereading his message, trying to ignore how warm it made me feel. Not the dizzying fire Matteo always brought but something steadier. Calmer. Safer.

It wasn’t a whirlwind.

It was an anchor.

I typed slowly, carefully, heart in my throat:

“I’m really glad you came with me. You made it feel like more than just a dinner. Sleep well, Ry-Ry.”

I hit send.

Mia squealed.

And I couldn’t stop smiling.

**

I barely had time to set my phone down before it buzzed again.

Ryan.

“Ry-Ry? Dangerous nickname to hand out. I might get ideas.”

I laughed softly, feeling heat rise in my cheeks.

Mia, who was now lying sideways on the couch with her head half buried under a pillow, peeked out one eye. “Is that him?”

I nodded, smiling at the screen. 

“Ideas, huh? Like what?” I typed back, biting my lip as I hit send.

The typing bubble appeared almost instantly.

“Like showing up at your apartment with tiramisu and demanding a rematch. You know… since you stole the last bite.”

I snorted, trying to muffle the sound as Mia mumbled something about traitorous desserts and rolled over.

“You let me win,” I replied. “Don’t act noble.”

“Maybe I did. But I’d do it again if it meant you’d smile like that again.”

God.

How could one man make words feel like confessions?

I rested my head on the cushion behind me, heart thudding.

I wanted to keep texting all night.

I wanted to ask him what he was like as a kid, what made him laugh the way he did at lunch, and what scared him.

But most of all, I wanted to ask… what are we?

Not yet, though.

Not tonight.

Tonight was soft and safe and full of just enough sweetness to hold me over.

“You’re trouble,” I finally typed.

His reply came within seconds.

“Only for you.”

That one hit different.

Mia was snoring now. Dead to the world, one hand still clutching a half-eaten granola bar.

I curled into myself, phone clutched to my chest.

This wasn’t fireworks or chaos.

This was warm light after a storm.

And for once… I let it in.

I lay there long after the last message, phone still glowing softly in my hand, heart refusing to settle.

The apartment was silent now, save for the occasional sleepy grunt from Mia and the hum of the fridge in the kitchen.

But inside me?

A thousand things stirred.

Ryan’s words replayed in my head like a favorite song Only for you.

It was flirtation, sure, but it didn’t feel empty. It felt careful. Intentional. Like every word he sent had been chosen to remind me I mattered.

And somehow, in that quiet space between laughter and longing, I felt it happening.

I was falling.

Not headfirst. Not recklessly.

But step by step, text by text, laugh by laugh.

It scared me a little.

Because after everything… wasn’t I supposed to be guarding my heart?

Wasn’t I supposed to be protecting myself from exactly this?

I sighed and turned onto my side, setting the phone on the nightstand.

The screen dimmed, but the smile didn’t fade.

If this was the beginning of something…

I didn’t want to run from it.

At least not tonight.

—

I woke up to the soft rustle of aluminum foil on the coffee table and the delicious smell of roasted peppers and melted cheese wafting from it like a warm hug.

A note in Mia’s handwriting sat on top:

“Eat this. You need real food, not butterflies.”

I smiled, unfolding the foil to reveal a perfectly wrapped, slightly overstuffed burrito.

The smell alone nearly brought tears to my eyes.

Roasted veggies, scrambled eggs, spiced sausage, and avocado Mia’s signature survival wrap. I took a bite, and every inch of me sighed in relief.

It was messy and warm and everything I didn’t know I needed.

Just like this day.

I ate slowly, sitting cross-legged on the couch, the late-night city lights flickering outside the window like distant stars.

The apartment was quiet again. Mia had retreated to her room hours ago, leaving me alone with the silence, the burrito, and my thoughts.

And Ryan.

God, Ryan.

His messages still echoed softly in my mind.

You make long days feel like the best kind of ending.

Only for you.

I wasn’t imagining it.

He wasn’t just being kind.

There was something there something careful and gentle and patient.

And it was exactly the opposite of everything I’d been used to.

I finished the last bite and wrapped the foil back up, wiping my hands on a napkin before curling up on the couch.

I didn’t bother pulling out the guest blanket. I just tugged the throw over my shoulders and let my head rest against the armrest.

The couch was lumpy.

The room was dim.

But somehow, I felt more at peace than I had in weeks.

My phone buzzed once on the table.

I didn’t check it.

For now, I didn’t need anything else.

Because tonight, I’d let myself feel it.

The possibility.

The quiet bloom of something new.

And when I closed my eyes, it wasn’t Matteo’s cold stare or Isabelle’s venom that filled my dreams.

It was laughter over shared dessert.

The smell of coffee.

The soft glow of a screen and the words that made my heart flutter.

Only for you.

And just like that, I let the warmth wrap around me.

And I slept.