"Six months ago," she replied without missing a beat, her gaze darting briefly to the window.

And that was it. The final nail in the coffin of her story.

Winn felt the words settle in his chest, pressing down, squeezing every ounce of air from him. Because six months ago, he’d been lying in a hospital bed and he saw her. He hadn’t dreamed that. He wasn’t crazy. She’d been there.

Every nerve in his body tightened. "I have one more question, Ivy." Her answer, he knew, would change everything.

"And then I can go back to the site?"

"Maybe."

"Okay. Go on then. Ask your question."

He took a breath, his eyes never leaving hers. "Did you love me?"

"What... what does that have to do with anything?" she stammered, her composure slipping.

"Did... you... love... me?" he repeated.

She tried to retreat, stepping back, but the wall met her before she could escape. "It changes nothing right now, Winn."

His jaw flexed. "Did you?"

His gaze burned into her, stripping away the pretense, the lies, the armor she’d wrapped around herself.

"Yes..." she whispered finally. "Yes, I did."

Winn’s lips curved slowly. "Then, my sweet, sweet girl," he drawled, stepping closer until she could feel the heat of him even through the tension snapping between them, "you are still going to be Mrs. Kane."

"I told you, I’m seeing someone!" she fired back.

"Fuck him!!! You love me!"

"I said I loved you," Ivy snapped. "Not that I still love you."

"I don’t care," he said finally. "You fell in love with me once." He stepped closer, his height shadowing hers. "I can make you do it again."

She swallowed hard. "Why do you want me so badly, Winn?" she whispered. "There are a thousand women who’d crawl across hot coals to be in your bed. Why me?"

His gaze softened. "You know why." Winn’s hand lifted, before his fingers brushed the side of her face. His thumb traced the faint blush on her cheek.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No... I truly don’t."

"Because I love you," Winn said. His hand slid to the back of her neck, his thumb resting just beneath her ear where her pulse fluttered wildly. "I loved you even when I thought you betrayed me with Evans. I can’t...It’s not something I can turn off."

He exhaled shakily, his lips brushing against her temple. "I guess there isn’t much difference between me and my sister then," he murmured. "We both find it hard to give up on love."

Ivy blinked back tears, her chest tightening. "You forget one crucial detail," she whispered, stepping away before she drowned in his sincerity. "You are married."

"The divorce papers have been ready for a year now," Winn countered. "It just has to be signed."

"And yet... you haven’t signed them."

"Maybe I was waiting for a reason to." His eyes swept her face, lingering on her lips, on the tremor of her breath. "And maybe, that reason just walked back into my life."

"We are both different people now, Winn," Ivy said.

"Yeah," he said. "I can see that you are." His eyes trailed from her face down her throat. "But I don’t think different means done."

It wasn’t working. Nothing was working. He wasn’t backing down, wasn’t folding into the quiet retreat she needed from him. She needed him to give up this fantasy — this dangerous, beautiful delusion that they could ever go back.

So she did the only thing that had ever worked with Winn Kane — she struck at his pride.

"You have been fucking someone else!" she spat, crossing her arms tightly across her chest as if to shield herself from the tremor that followed the words. "It’s not something you can come back from, Winn."

"I haven’t touched another woman since you," he interrupted.

"Well, I have been fucking someone else!" she snapped. "Someone younger, stronger, better!"

The air changed in an instant.

Winn saw red. Of course, he hadn’t expected her to be celibate, but to throw it in his face —it set every nerve in his body on fire.

"Better?" he repeated. His pupils were blown wide, his jaw tight enough to crack. Before she could react, her back hit the cool surface of the wall. His hand was at her throat.

"You’re mine, Ivy," he growled. "I don’t give a shit what herculean hunk you got yourself."

His other hand flattened against the wall beside her head, his body pinning hers in a cage of heat and fury. "If any other man touches you," he went on, "I will use every resource at my disposal to make sure he disappears."

"Winn..." she whispered. "You don’t get to claim me anymore."

"I never stopped," he said simply, his thumb brushing along her jaw with a gentleness that clashed cruelly with the way he held her. "And you never stopped wanting me."

Ivy whimpered. "I can’t."

"I taught you everything," Winn murmured against her neck, his breath hot and unsteady. He caught her earlobe between his teeth, teasing it before sucking gently, a memory resurrected.

Ivy gasped, her knees weakening as his body pressed harder against hers. "I was your first," he whispered, "that’s a memory that will burn in your mind for the rest of your life."

She wanted to tell him he was wrong. That she had moved on. That she’d buried him and everything he represented. But her lips parted only in a soft, involuntary moan when his hand left her throat and traced down her arm.

It was maddening — the way he still knew her map, every sensitive path that made her shiver. His fingers brushed her waist before sliding lower, slipping past the waistband of her combat trousers.

She should have stopped him — gods, she knew she should have — but her body didn’t seem to care for logic.

"Jesus..." Ivy moaned.

His fingers found her wetness easily, his touch slow and knowing, as if testing a memory. "You say one thing with your lips," he murmured, "but your body says another." He stroked her gently, drawing small circles that made her arch against him.

Her breaths came out ragged, uneven. She turned her head slightly, her lips brushing his cheek. "Winn, please... don’t make me do this. Don’t do this."

"Then tell me to stop," he whispered in her ear. His fingers never stopped moving, each touch calculated, patient. "Just say it, Ivy."

She bit her lip, shaking her head, her body trembling as desire warred with reason. "Winn..." she breathed, his name breaking off into a whimper.

"It’s just one word, Ivy. Say it."

"This is unfair," she cried softly, her legs shaking as she tried to resist the rising tide within her.

"I don’t care how many times you push me away," Winn murmured fiercely, his lips brushing her ear, his breath coming faster now, "I will keep loving you. I will keep making you moan my name endlessly. I will keep making you cum, and I will keep fucking you. Because... you were made for me."

He pressed gently on her clit, and Ivy’s gasp turned into a choked sob, her fingers curling uselessly.

"Now, cum for me, love," he whispered.

And she did — body trembling, breath catching, eyes fluttering shut as the world narrowed to nothing but his touch, his scent, and the unbearable truth that she still loved him enough to break.

"Incredible as always." He pulled his fingers from her, eyes never leaving her flushed face, and brought them to his lips, licking them slowly. Then, he leaned forward, capturing her mouth in a kiss that tasted of her and him and everything they had both been trying to deny. When he pulled back, his forehead rested on hers, breath mingling. "You cannot escape me."

"You are being selfish," she cried. Her hands trembled as she pushed at his chest, but Winn didn’t budge. He just looked at her, that infuriating calm in his eyes that made her want to scream.

"I have always been selfish when it comes to you. I am not going to apologise for it." He ran a hand through his hair, pacing briefly, his movements restless. "I tried to move on, Ivy. I fucking tried. But nothing works. You don’t leave my head."

Her heart twisted painfully. "Do you even care what makes me happy?" she asked.

"Yes! Yes, I care!" Winn shot back. He reached out, gripping her shoulders. "We made each other happy! Don’t you remember? I admit, I was an asshole in the beginning. I didn’t know how to be... But you didn’t give me the chance to show you how much of an idiot I was — to fix it. You ran the minute I mentioned love."

"Winn, please just let me be. Please. I am begging you."

"Is that really what you want?" Winn asked quietly. His eyes searched hers, desperate for a lie that might give him hope.

"Yes." She didn’t miss the flicker of pain in his expression — brief, but deep enough to twist her gut.

"Fine..." he said finally, stepping back. "Fine. I’ll give you time to think this through." He turned away from her, shoulders tense beneath his shirt.