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“What are the conditions?” I pushed without even thinking about it—words just tumbling out of my mouth. She pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Please, London.”
Dammit. I couldn’t get anything out of her right now. But I think I knew a way. I relaxed my posture. “Then… would you like to start at the office suite or the living room?”
She strained a smile. “Office suite. Let’s save the pleasant parts for last.”
The elevator came to a stop at the top floor, and I led her out into the entryway, where I took a left and showed her into the private office suite. It was a stylish place—reminded me a bit of her office, contemporary styles blended with something more Art Deco, but it might have been leaning a bit into the lavish, almost gaudy. Not Cameron’s taste. Had Leon researched these things at all?
We kept going through the cycle as I led her through and then into the living room—talking about the space, trading quick remarks like playful sparring, and then it would go a bit too far—something a little too bold, a little too flirtatious, and then we’d jerk back into an awkward coldness and do it all again.
It was a long tour, a big place that I knew was more wide-open and massively in on the square footage than Cameron wanted, and I knew well before we were through that she wasn’t interested. Why she was even still here, well… that was its own question.
But eventually, I led Cameron out to the rooftop space, packed with greenery and even a Zen garden, and I gestured for her to join me at the table by the sheer glass railing. She got the cue, sinking into the seat next to me with a heaviness, a loaded silence, as she stared down at the dregs of her coffee. I didn’t say anything—let the silence do its work—and eventually, she cracked.
“He wants to take it back,” she said, and it took me a second to work it out. My stomach sank when I did.
“The… separation?”
“Mm-hm.”
I screwed up my face. “He wants to extort and blackmail you into having a marriage with him.”
“He’s always been a bit pushy.” She spoke tartly, like she was talking around a lemon wedge in her mouth.
“Tell me you’re not going to accept.”
“Or what?” she said idly, casting her gaze out to the horizon. “You’re going to rush in and shout that you object? Carry me out in your arms?”
“If you give me half a chance, I would.”
She laughed drily. I shifted closer.
“Don’t laugh. I’m serious.”
She arched her eyebrows at me, a distant smile on her lips. “A bit more dramatic than your style normally is, London.”
“So maybe I’ve had a change of heart.” I put a hand on her arm, my heart beating faster. My mouth felt dry—I wasn’t used to this, and it left me feeling stranded, but at the same time, it was exhilarating. “I don’t care about him. I want you.”
She pursed her lips, giving me a look of quiet surprise—scanning me, like she was making sure it was still me. “London—”
“I know what you said. And you’re right. Maybe we’ve been in a dreamland chasing fantasy versions of each other. But you’re wrong that I haven’t been me. You’re the person I’ve been able to be real around, the person who makes me speak my mind. So if we’ve been some fantasy and nothing more, then I want to try something more. Date you. I… want a chance with you.”
She sighed, hard, turning away, a hand to her forehead. “Christ, London. What am I supposed to do with that?”
I wasn’t being deterred at this point. I shifted closer still, slipping a hand to her back. “Well… if it were up to me, maybe say yes and go out for dinner with me?”
She laughed suddenly, and she had a soft pink tinge to her cheeks when she looked back at me. “It’s very… charming. To see you so forward. Again, that preternatural charm of yours.”
“There’s nothing preternatural about it. I just…” I dropped my gaze back to the table, my insides twisting up in knots. “I’ve loved… every second I’ve gotten with you. I want as many as I can get. If that’s wrong, then I’ll be wrong.”
“The problem,” Cameron said, her voice gentle as she cupped her coffee in both hands, staring down into it. “The problem is that I figured I had to say yes. To him. And that it would be worth it to make sure my brand wasn’t destroyed, and all the people who work for me with it. And I’d been spending the past two weeks justifying it to myself. Finding ways to believe that I’d be okay in it, that I’d be happy living that life.” She gestured in my direction. “And then you come along saying all the things I was hoping you’d say before he tried to bring me back. And now what am I supposed to do?”
I took a long breath, shuddering just a little in my chest. I couldn’t just ask her to pick me. Not when it was me against her entire business, the thing she’d built her entire life around, the thing that made her who she was today. Not when it was me against her future.
But at the same time, maybe I could.
“Give me a chance,” I said, quietly. “Just… some time. He doesn’t need an answer right away. Even if he’s acting like he does, he’s not giving away his bargaining power by refusing you some time. Just a little time, with me.”
