Once Ghosted, Twice Shy (Reluctant Royals, #2.5)

by Alyssa Cole

Today she would break them in, walking away from memories that should’ve evaporated long ago but had left residual damage, like stains on suede after a sudden downpour.

Dejection was inefficient, and worse, it was pedestrian.

It deserved better than to be the receptacle of memories that impeded her forward motion like a badly tailored suit that was too tight at the knees and elbows.

She stared at the paused image of Fab, with herself unfocused in the background, as if someone had managed to capture her state of being for the last seven months and three weeks. That was the version of herself she’d vowed to walk away from, and now the woman who’d caused her dejection had chosen today of all days to step out from her past.

She was going to leave behind the itchy anxiety that had come with staring at unread messages in the dating app day after day. But . . . Her role as repository of wisdom had apparently also taken the weekend off.

Likotsi stared at Fab, weighing her anger against her yearning, and though hope was a thing with feathers there was nothing insubstantial about it.

a woman in a dapper suit with a bearing that made her think of royalty and a mouth that made her think of worship—a

it was more than the physical jolt of attraction: hope had flashed in her, like sunlight catching on a precious stone. Probability had started a plus and minus column in her head and her heart—then

There was a certain . . . regard in the tilt of her mouth, a mix of courteousness and insinuation. Like she would ask politely before giving you the best head of your life.

she felt a slightly unsettling jolt of fear, like when she momentarily lost her balance on her high heels but righted herself just before she fell.

Likotsi adored things that took time and care to produce results that weren’t entirely necessary but added something special to the world.

Fab felt the liking and the wanting that had been building up in her all evening smash into one another.