Page 33 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

“Why are we like this?” she asked suddenly.

“Like what?”

She hesitated. The question felt fragile. “Like we’re… different all of a sudden.”

He studied her for a moment, longer than the teasing moments before. The warmth in his eyes didn’t fade. “I believe the magic of the wine has removed our inhibitions and reluctance.”

“Is that the polite way to say that we’re drunk?”

He chuckled. “I believe it is.”

They hadn’t touched at all beyond the accidental brush at the wine bottle hours ago. But the space between them felt charged in a way that had nothing to do with proximity and everything to do with understanding.

By the time the candles had burned low and the plates were empty, she realized she was reluctant for the evening to end.

She bumped into him when he helped her out of her chair. The wine had made her a bit unsteady and she grabbed his arm to catch herself. His arms went around her and she stayed there a second too long. He smiled as he stepped back.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice soft.

“For what?”

“For tonight.”

Her chest did that inconvenient flipflop thing again.

“Yeah,” she said. “Tonight was… nice.”

“It was,” he agreed. “I have some work to finish up before bed.”

Just like that, the moment was broken. When she reached their room, she washed her face and slid into bed. The room was dim and she stared at the ceiling while the night replayed on a loop.

Tomorrow they’d see each other and the old careful distance would snap back into place. Tonight had just been a fluke, the result of too much wine.

She rolled onto her side and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

But as she drifted toward sleep, she could still hear the sound of his unguarded laughter. And she couldn’t quite decide whether she’d imagined the camaraderie or if she’d gotten a glimpse of what could be.

She woke up alone with a headache and a heartache. Lucas hadn’t come to bed, and when she saw him at breakfast, he acted like their dinner had never happened.

After finding some aspirin and letting the sun evaporate the wine from her soul, she paced the patio while the girls napped and felt something tight and restless inside her chest. She was suffocating and needed space.

“I was thinking…” she began that evening as she stood near the office doorway while Lucas reviewed paperwork. “The girls haven’t seen my parents in a while. Would it be alright if I took them for a visit? Just a few days.”

Lucas didn’t look up immediately. He turned a page before he answered.

“Yes,” he said easily. “Of course. That’s fine.”

That’s fine. He glanced up at her and she saw relief flicker across his face, subtle but unmistakable.

Had she imagined it?

She waited for more from him. For questions or hesitation. For even the smallest sign that her absence would matter. None came. Rational thought told her that her parents were the girls’ grandparents so the request wasn’t anything abnormal, but that didn’t soothe the frustration.

He nodded once. “Let me know the dates so I can arrange the schedule and transportation.”

Professional and distant. It shouldn’t have hurt because their relationship wasn’t real. It couldn’t even be called a relationship. Arrangement was the proper term. She knew that, but something inside her cracked anyway.

He can’t wait for a break from you, she told herself. You were never meant to stay.