“Fair point.” However, as Kira looked over to the door, her face suddenly paled. “God, your husband is literally a walking jumpscare.”
My eyes darted over to the glass. Consequently, I noticed a familiar face, one I wasn’t quite ready to see.
Walking over to my office was Gavin with a bouquet of roses, chatting to someone beside him. Unfortunately, the person he was speaking to made my pulse quicken. His smile and laugh sent shivers down my spine: Beckham, the very man tearing my marriage apart.
As they walked over, Kira turned away tocoincidentallyoccupy herself with something on my desk as I stood, immediately toying with my wedding ring.God, this thing feels so loose, almost like it’s ready to slip right off.
My office door opened, and I smiled as I walked over to Gavin. Ignoring Beckham’s gaze, I pulled Gavin into a hug as he chuckled.
“Gav, I thought you would be coming home later.” I smiled.
He placed a small kiss on my cheek. “Thought I’d come to surprise you at work, see what you’ve been up to while I’ve been gone.”
I held my almost wavering grin in place as Kira cocked an eyebrow before she looked away, well aware of what I had beenoccupyingmyself with while Gavin was in another state.
“That reminds me…” Gavin began, holding up the bouquet of flowers. “Could you give us a moment, Kira?”
She smiled as she stood from the edge of my desk. “Of course, Gav… Rose, I’ll be right outside.”
I knew that was code for “I’m going to be listening to every single word regardless of whether or not your shitty husband kicked me out of the room.”
Right. So maybe those weren’t her exact words, but I could very well imagine her saying them.
When Kira had gone, Gavin launched straight into it.
“I was thinking about us the entire trip, Rose, and I want us to get back to where we used to be.”
I immediately gave a side-eye through the glass to Beckham, who was simply watching with his arms crossed patiently.
Gavin didn’t notice.
“We should have dinner… just the two of us.” He proposed, “A fresh start. Beckham suggested a beautiful restaurant that recently opened up downtown; it’d be perfect. What do you say?”
I slowly grabbed the flowers as his arm rested around my waist. The weight of Beckham’s stare didn’t waver as I placed a small kiss on his lips.
Dinner at a restaurant to start anew. Obviously, it would take more than an expensive dinner to get us to a good place, but it was a start. For our relationship and for me to get away from the tempting incubus that lived rent-free in my mind and on my skin.
“Sounds perfect,” I responded softly as I lifted the roses to smell their beautiful fragrance. The scent was intoxicating, sweet enough to drown in, their beauty effortless, undeniable. Like the illusion of our marriage, something I clung to despite the thorns lying just beneath the surface, waiting to draw blood.
And yet, I held them anyway.
It was a start.
Chapter twenty-nine
Beckham
Beforethepanic,beforeher spiral, before she bolted down the museum steps—she left me in that showroom, hips swaying like temptation itself as I watched from over my shoulder.
I knew it was getting to her. My words. My touch. Our connection… It was beginning to take a toll on her. Gavin was no help, and neither was the constant worry of the financial troubles that had been looming over her.
Despite her resistance, she was already unraveling piece by piece, struggling to hold on to something she’d already lost.
I could see the gears turning in her head, the guilt, the looming shame. She liked to pretend things could change, that she still had a choice. I’d make sure she realized she didn’t soon enough.
Exiting the showroom, I descended the steps slowly and was met with Helen, who was fixing up some documents by the grand desk.
She looked over at me, and a smile coated her face. “She’s just outside…” she said with a smile, and I nodded silently before she continued. “You seem rather…attentivefor just being a client.”
