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She wasn’t my type. Perhaps that was why I hadn’t noticed her body until recently. Her figure was petite with some curve to her ass and breasts. Made to be enjoyed, but not by me.
My chest tightened.
I had set her up with Osian because it was a good match. She’d always have money and he would treat her well.
But it also meant that he got to be the man who shared all of her milestones. He would pierce her, he would marry her, he would get her pregnant.
She would be Mrs. Clara Cardiff.
I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. I had to be alright with that, I had to make peace with letting her go after all this time.
I had to be able to honestly hand her over on her wedding day.
And yet…fuck, that was going to hurt.
I’d never hear her pad down the hallway and into the kitchen, her hair messy and her eyes puffy from sleep. I’d miss her constant chatter in the evenings while I worked. I’d miss her prying me out of my chair so I could fetch her wine from the cellar because she was afraid of spiders and the dark.
Those were the parts of living with her I loved the most.
The unpolished moments.
I forced myself to move my feet and leave the room. But I could have sat there and watched her sleep all night.
It was a cool, clear, Autumn day outside the next morning. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt and strapped on my exercise watch. There wasn’t a gym at the lodge, just a pool and a weight room, but there were miles of running trails.
The lobby was almost empty. I passed through it and moved down the front steps and crossed the parking lot. The sun had just crested the horizon and the trees were touched with gold.
The air was purer up in the mountains. Maybe I would buy a cabin in New Hampshire.
But what was the point of that? Once Clara was gone, it would just be me and all I did when I was alone was work. When she had been away at college, I became an extreme workaholic, but when she was home, I found myself not wanting to go into the office.
She made me want to be home.
I located the trailhead and headed south at a slow jog. Just getting my heart pumping and clean air in my lungs was helping flush the last few days out of my system.
I was pretty confident at this point that bringing her here was a mistake.
There were too many men and we were being watched too closely for my liking. I’d attempted to do something nice and give her a respite, but instead I’d kicked a hornet’s nest. Now we were the subject of speculation.
As if on cue, my smartwatch beeped and I paused, glancing down to see Osian’s name blink on the screen.
Why the fuck was he calling?
I ran a hand over my face to clear the sweat and tapped my earbud.
“Hello,” I said coolly.
“Do you have Clara with you at the lodge?”
“Why?”
He huffed and I heard a door slam and footsteps, like he’d just walked out onto a sidewalk. “I was just at your house and no one was there so I asked Caden and he said you were gone on business with Vincent Galt. I know he’s at the lodge, so I’m asking if she’s with you.”
I bit back the urge to roll my eyes.
“She’s here.”
“Why?” he snapped.
