Jessica's POV
His jaw locked tight, and I watched his hands ball into fists inside his pockets. He started to speak, stopped, drew a sharp breath, then tried once more. "You're looking at me right now."
I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath until those words left his mouth. Every fiber of my being had braced for the cutting remarks I expected from his lips.
Yet that didn't ease the tension coiled in my chest. I moved forward cautiously. "Not the way I want to."
His head angled slightly, eyes becoming slits. "Then exactly how do you want to see me?"
"The way things used to be," I breathed.
Something flashed across his features, there one moment and vanished the next, too quick for me to decipher. But I could sense his struggle to keep that emotionless facade intact. His internal battle told me he still harbored feelings for me, otherwise the ice-cold indifference would flow naturally like it had initially.
