Ava didn't remember when Dominic's penthouse started to feel familiar.
Maybe it was the quiet.
Or the way the city lights stretched endlessly beyond the glass walls, making everything feel unreal—like they were suspended in a world that didn't belong to anyone else.
"You're staring again," Dominic said from across the room.
"I'm thinking," Ava replied.
"That's worse."
She smiled faintly, wrapping her hands around the warm mug he had handed her earlier.
"You don't seem like someone who lets people in," she said.
"I don't."
"Then why me?"
Dominic didn't answer immediately. He rarely did when the question mattered.
Instead, he walked toward her slowly, stopping just close enough to make her heartbeat shift.
"You walked into my office and challenged me," he said quietly. "No one does that."
"That's your reason?" she asked.
"No," he said, his voice lower now. "That's just how it started."
Ava held his gaze.
"Then what is it now?"
For a moment—just a moment—Dominic looked unsure.
And that scared her more than anything.