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It doesn’t take long until we’re both breathless, our skin boiling with desire.
She takes the initiative to walk away, perhaps finally aware that we are not alone. Still, she can’t hide her arousal. Her mouth is swollen from the kiss, and her porcelain skin is flushed. Beautiful as fuck.
“How do I cut ties with him, Christos? I don’t want anything else from that man.”
“It makes it a lot easier that you didn’t change your name when you gotmarried.” Even though it’s what I now know is a fake marriage, I still feel the word running like acid down my throat. Imagining her tied to someone for the rest of her life drives me insane with jealousy.
Imagining her bonded for the rest of her life to someone other than you drives you insane with jealousy.A voice inside my head says what I haven’t had the courage to admit until now.
I look at her and realize she’s staring back at me. It’s as if we’re both trying to unravel what the other represents in their world.
Yes, she said she loves me, but I don’t think Zoe can understand what we have any more than I can. The odds were against us, and thereis still a lot that could go wrong. However, life brought us together again. I’m not willing to waste this second chance.
I take her hand, and after opening the car door for her to get in, I get behind the wheel. “I’ll call my lawyers as soon as we get to DC. It will be quick, and soon you’ll be free.”
“I didn’t even feel married.”
“Does the idea appeal to you?”
“What?” She feigns ignorance.
“Marriage. Building a family.”
Her face turns a darker shade of red. “I’ve been abandoned for longer than I’ve had a home. In therapy, I learned that living in search of what I don’t have will always be a weakness of mine. So yes, getting married and having my own family is a goal I have.”
I haven’t started the engine yet; my mind is overloaded with a certainty that has just unraveled. I want Zoe for myself—not for a while until we explore what we feel or what we are. I want Zoe as mineforever.
“And the farm,” I say.
“What?”
“You want a farm too and, I suppose, lots of kids.”
“Yes, as many as God wants to give me,” she says, looking out the car window.
I know it’s uncomfortable, but I need to know more. “What about your career?”
“As you said, I closed a million-dollar contract with a Greek who is obsessed with me,” she says, trying to be jovial but failing. “I won’t be able to end this commitment anytime soon.”
I know that’s a sore spot for her. Zoe feels uncomfortable about our relationship involving money.
“This has nothing to do with the two of us. Yes, I chose you mainly because I wanted you back, but you are beautiful, and it will be a huge win for my brands. You’ll representVanity.”
“What? But the contract was for a smaller brand. Vanity is a synonym for luxury worldwide. I waited more than a year and then stood in an enormous line just to buy the bag of my dreams.”
“You are the face I want to epitomizeVanity: beautiful, sophisticated,and young. I’ve been wanting to rekindle this brand for a long time and show that all ages can relate to it.”
“I don’t know what to say. Or rather, I do know. Thanks. Modeling for a brand that is synonymous with luxury is every model’s dream.”
I don’t take long to understand what she doesn’t reveal. “But not yours.”
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but as I’ve told you before, I started my career because of Pauline, and I continued because of necessity. Dieting for the rest of my life is not my idea of fun.”
I had never analyzed the models’ lifestyles from that perspective. For me, it was just how they made a living. “And what’s your idea of fun, pretty girl?”
She looks at her hands. “I will fulfill all my dreams, Christos. I was wrong the first time, but when I get married again, it will be to someone who values me. Someone who wants to give back to the world instead of just taking. Someone I’m not ashamed to be myself with. Not always strong or brave, not always tidy or wearing makeup, but the real Zoe.”
“You’re beautiful no matter what you wear.”
