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Chapter 1
GWEN
"So, you’re telling me you’re over him?" My sister Morgan’s normally chipper voice was laced with concern.
That was my story, and I was sticking to it.
Had the man I was going to marry just upped and changed his mind? Yes. Had his words ripped into me like barbs, shredding me apart? Also, yes. But I was fine now. I had moved on. I didn’t even think about him anymore.
Liar.
“Yeah, I’m great. I mean honestly, we were only together for a few months and it was an arranged marriage. Arranged engagement, whatever.” I slammed the fridge shut as I grabbed my smoothie and headed out. “I’m fine.”
Morgan hesitated a moment. “It’s just… you seem like you’re fine. But I just remember holding you on the couch for two days straight when you couldn't move."
I winced inwardly at the memory. That was accurate. I had been devastated. Not just devastated, but also embarrassed. Fully humiliated because I should never have trusted him. But that was then. Now I was back to my senses, and I had a plan.
So what if he'd played me? So what that as smart as I prided myself on being that I hadn't seen it coming?
You’ll only spin out this way.
"Yes, that was me. But that was two months ago. I'm fine now. I have recovered.”
She didn’t seem to buy my lines. “So what—you’re just going to keep working for him? I mean what is the plan?”
That question I at least had an easy answer for.
"I'm in London for another six months to finish out the Sword and the Stone launch.” That was our team code name for the security application we’d built on top of our AI engine. It was a game changer, not only for the company, but for the individuals who’d worked so hard to build it for years. “I just need to see out the end of my contract and see that my team all make it past the provisionary period. Once they all get their permanent Pendragon jobs and I fulfill my end of the contract, I’ll collect my retention bonus and be done. I just want them taken care of, then I’m off.”
“You’re sure you’re not running away?”
No. “Of course, I’m sure. Yes, London has the benefit of me not having to see him, but Lance is here. He was so instrumental in the initial development of the software. It makes it easy to pick his brain from here.” And I didn’t run the risk of seeing my ex anywhere. So, win-win really.
“If you say so, but I wish you hadn’t had to run all the way to London.”
Rainy, misty, London. While the city had an energy of its own like New York, it also had a specific quaintness to it, with the politeness and the constant offering of a cuppa.
It felt like a warm hug by a fire on a rainy day.
I had started to feel more like myself here.
“London is great. You should come out for a visit. We’ll go to the West End, grab a show, do these underground bars I’ve heard about. It’ll be fun."
"I would, but you have forgotten the Lance of it all?"
“Oh come on, I can tell him to be on his best behavior for a couple of days. We can work, hang out. Come, visit."
"I might come, but I'll stay at an AirBnb. I couldn't imagine staying under the same roof as Lance for that long without one of us being murdered. And when I say one of us, I mean, him."
"If you insist, but still, you'll love London."
"I don't know. I've always considered myself a Paris girl."
"Well, you could have both. Come to London, we'll take a weekend. We'll go to Paris."
"Are you serious? Does my sister now take weekends off?"
"Yes. Last weekend, Lance made me go to Notting Hill. We walked around the market. It was fun. I mean, a little crowded, but fun. We went to this little scone place called Cheeky Scone and it was delicious. I’m glad Lance’s place is far enough away that I won’t be tempted to go there every day. I’m not even ashamed to say I had two."
