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I ignored her.
“So, get her back.”
“I can’t.” My head turned back to her. “The second she put that out in the open, everything changed. I can’t just go back to what we were because it doesn’t exist anymore. I was just a man with a whore, but now…”
“You’re a man with a woman.”
I listened to the raindrops pelt against the window. “That’s not what I wanted—”
“But it’s what happened. And I know you’ll never admit it, not even to yourself, but I know you love her too.”
My eyes darted back to her so fast. “Don’t tell me how I feel—”
“I’m not telling you anything. I’m acknowledging it.”
“This isn’t the relationship that I wanted. Period. When I hired her, I just wanted something easy, something to forget…the past.” Now I wouldn’t look at her. “The last thing I want is another relationship.”
“Well, you’re in one, whether you like it or not.”
“I’m not ready for marriage—”
“Did she ask to get married?” Camille asked skeptically. “Grave, all she did was tell you how she feels.”
“How does that nursery rhyme go? First comes love, then comes marriage…then the baby in the baby carriage? The second she said that, she terminated the best thing that had ever happened to me.”
“Grave—”
“I don’t want to be a stepfather. I told her that.”
Camille’s eyes fell, like she knew how much that must have hurt Elise.
“I felt like shit for saying it, but she needs to understand…”
“Have you met her kids?”
I clenched my jaw before I answered. “No.”
“Then how do you know that’s something you don’t want?”
“Would you want to raise kids that Cauldron had with some other woman?” I asked incredulously.
“His kids would be my kids,” she said gently. “So, yes.”
She was a woman, so I shouldn’t have asked her.
“You can still have your own kids, Grave. I’m sure she would want to have your babies.”
I focused on the window.
“You shouldn’t throw this away. You should at least give it a chance.”
“I already told you I’m not ready for this—”
“You aren’t ready to love a woman you already love?” she asked, bewildered. “You say you aren’t ready for it, but you’re already living it. You just refuse to acknowledge it…which is pretty cowardly.”
My head snapped back in her direction. “Watch it, Camille.”
“Look, you’ll hate yourself if you don’t at least try. Because Elise is going to get a new client, and that’ll eat you alive. And then one day, she’ll find someone who loves her kids as their own…and you’ll be alone.”
