Compass (Second Chances 1)

Tilly weighed in first. Her advice was typical Tilly. She told me to set up a meeting with him, talk through what took him away from me five years ago, and see if the spark is still there.

I brushed that idea off with a swallow of wine and a roll of my eyes.

Olivia’s advice is obviously not what I expected.

“You want me to what with Preston?”

Olivia dips her index finger into the balled fist of her left hand. She slides it in and out slowly.

I almost choke on my wine. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” She laughs. “I think you should finally have sex with Preston.”

“Finally?” Tilly grabs my forearm in a death grip. “You’ve been on three dates with him, Kate. Are you telling me that you haven’t slept with him yet?”

“We kissed,” I say flatly.

Tilly, Olivia, and I were at a café on Broadway and Seventy-Fourth a month ago. Preston Metcalfe was standing in line behind me. He flirted with me. I responded in kind.

He’s good-looking with a strong, tall build, and a job in finance.

More importantly, he’s single and interested in me.

We’ve had lunch once since then and dinner twice.

We agreed at the café before he took my number, that we would take things slow.

So far, we’ve both stuck to that promise. Things are moving at a snail’s pace since we’ve only kissed a few times.

He hinted that he wanted to go down on me after our last dinner when he said I looked like the most delicious dessert he’s ever seen, but then his phone rang. Someone’s financial emergency stole him away before he could get a first taste.

“You kissed his cock?” Tilly says with a half-grin. “That’s what you’re saying, right?”

“You knew Sebastian for weeks before you jumped into bed with him,” I point out with a lift of my empty wine glass in the air. “This is a no judgment zone, Tilly.”

“He was my roommate,” she says in a rush. “It’s completely different.”

“You and the sergeant are yesterday’s news.” Olivia pats Tilly’s shoulder. “We’re here to help Kate stay strong so Gage doesn’t drive a bulldozer over her heart again.”

“She needs to talk to him,” Tilly insists. “They left things unsaid years ago. Until they clear the air, what they had will never be truly over.”

“It was over when he took his parents’ sailboat out on the Pacific.” Olivia takes a deep breath. “He hasn’t spent the past five years looking for her. A coincidence dropped him back into Kate’s orbit. She doesn’t owe him a thing, especially not another minute of her life.”

Clearing my throat, I lean forward to tap my fingers on my small dining table. “I’m sitting right here. I get a say in what my next step should be, don’t I?”

“Talk to him,” Tilly reiterates.

“Call Prest

on and take it past first base.” Olivia mimes swinging a baseball bat.

As if on cue, my phone starts ringing. Olivia jumps to her feet and runs toward my coffee table to scoop it up in her palm. Her gaze drops to the screen, a wide smile spreading across her face. “Speak of the handsome devil. Preston’s ears must have been burning. He’s calling and whatever he wants, say yes.”

Chapter 10

Kate

I said yes.