Free What the Lightning Sees: Part Three by Louise Bay

girl,” he said as he grabbed me into his arms. I tensed. “Sorry, I forgot about the PDA rule. Let’s get somewhere more private.”
    He pulled my hand into his and led me down the corridor and through a frosted glass door. Three heads snapped up as we walked in.
    “Hey, everyone, this is Haven. Haven, this is Eric, Greg and Dale.”
    I forced a smile. Luckily they weren’t particularly interested in me and quickly went back to their laptops.
    “I thought it was going to be bigger.” I said as I scanned the small room. I thought there would be a corner where we could talk. There was never going to be a good time for this, but I thought with Beth being back today, now would make the most sense. He would have his sister for support.
    “Let me show you.” Jake led me toward the back of the office and through a door into another much larger space. “They can take the wall down if we want them to. For now, it’s better to be in the smaller room when there are just four of us.” He was excited and it was lovely to see.
    I nodded. “Do you have some water or—” I needed to stay strong but being with him made me doubt myself. I wanted him. I always wanted him.
    “Yeah, let me . . .” He walked across the empty room toward a coffee machine on a bench and pulled open a fridge set beneath the coffee cups. He passed me a bottle of water and kept one for himself. “There’s not much of a view because it’s on the ground floor, but I don’t think that matters.”
    “It’s great and the location is awesome. You should be so proud.”
    He smiled. I hated to bring him down, but he’d understand eventually that this was right for both of us in the long term. And it was right . . . wasn’t it?
    “You’ve got a lot going on,” I continued. “What with this all happening and buying a new flat, your dad and the baby and Millie—”
    He stood right in front of me. “Yeah, but it’s all good. I can handle it and I know we don’t get loads of time together, but it will get better.” He stroked his hands down my arms.
    “It’s not about the time. I’m not demanding more attention. Please don’t think that’s what this is about.” I didn’t want him to think I was a monster.
    “What what is about?” His eyebrows drew together and his voice changed pitch.
    I took another deep breath.
    “Haven?” Jake bent his knees slightly, trying to catch my eye.
    “It’s just, I think you have a lot going on and that maybe I need to let you concentrate on other things.” My voice came out smaller than I’d expected. I didn’t feel as confident that I could let him go now that I was in front of him.
    “What are you saying? Are you running from me?”
    I shook my head. “I’m not running. I promise, I’m not. I just think that you need to be consumed with other things and I shouldn’t be a priority for you.” I wasn’t explaining myself very well. I’d rehearsed this speech in my head a million times in the past twenty-four hours and it had all made so much sense when I was on my own.
    Jake gripped my shoulders tenderly. “You are a priority for me—”
    I couldn’t look at him. “But you should be concentrating on your business and your baby and Millie. I couldn’t live with myself if I thought I was the reason that you’re not in a relationship with the mother of your child, or that you’re not spending more time with your kid. You need some space to figure out what you need.”
    “Haven, I know Millie has been a pain in the ass recently, but I didn’t run over to her the other night. And when I saw her about the ultrasound, I told her there was nothing going to happen between us. She gets that—”
    “You don’t know what things would be like if you were single—” The black molasses that had been rooted in my gut spread across my body at the thought of him with Millie or anyone else.
    “I can tell you categorically that if Millie was the last woman on the planet I wouldn’t want to be