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I nodded now. “And I suppose no one is supposed to know? About you and me, not just…Kane.” I told myself that saying his name out loud took his power away. It didn’t.
“Aye, missus. You weren’t even supposed to know.”
I gave him a nod, wondering how that was supposed to work. “Okay. So, nothing needs to change going forward.”
“Except I need to find an excuse to be here every time you are without making the wolf suspicious.”
“I could just never leave my room,” I offered, and he smiled.
“I think that would make him more suspicious.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I’ll leave you to get dressed. Neo’s escorted Kane off the Estate and I’ll be here until we go back to Saint Bens.”
“Thank you, Marco,” I said, not sure how I could properly show him my gratitude.
He shrugged. “It’s my job, missus.”
“A business expense?” I joked.
He laughed. “If you want me to take you out to dinner again, yes.”
“I’ll try to come up with every excuse for you to have business expenses to claim.”
He tipped his head and touched his hand to it. “I appreciate that, missus.” He turned to leave then stopped. “Oh, and congratulations, missus.”
All the lightness he’d managed to give back to me was doused in a bucket of icy trepidation. “Thank you, Marco.”
He gave me a nod and left me to myself.
I dropped on my bed and sighed heavily. “Floss is here tomorrow,” I reminded the tears that burned my throat and pricked my eyes. “We can lose it tomorrow.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Could Mrs Kincaid-Callahan be the new endgame?” Florence asked gently as we lay on my bedroom floor late the next afternoon.
We were half-ready for the party later and both hugging our own half-empty bottle of liquor. I’d cried and laughed and thrown pillows and hugged her tightly for a good few hours. Now I was feeling much better able to cope with my life, to put on that unwavering brave face, even if I was still sad and angry and scared.
I huffed a humourless laugh. “Mrs Kincaid-Callahan?” I asked. “You’re suggesting I keep them both?”
She nodded. “Iamsuggesting you keep them both. Yes.”
As attractive as that idea was… “I’m not sure I’d be allowed to keep them both.”
“Says who? Shouldn’t the Goddess of Saint Benedicts get to dictate if she wants a harem of men?”
Now I snorted, very much humoured. “Just how many men am I having in this harem? I asked.
“As many as you want.”
I looked at her with a fond smile, feeling like maybe life wasn’t quite as sad as it felt just then. Not when I had a friend like her by my side. And I knew that, no matter what contracts were drawn up for me, Florence Walton would always be by my side. And she was going to be with me now until we went back to school the next week.
“Just them,” I answered softly. “I just want them.”
Because I did. I still wanted them both.
Since the proposal, I was starting to doubt how much of me wanting Apollo stemmed from the knowledge I had to have him. But I clung to the way he’d made me feel in the month and a half leading up to Christmas. The way we’d honestly grown closer and been happy. I reminded myself I did love him. Even if our lives wouldn’t be what we wished, I did love him.
