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“I hate liking him,” I begin, then backtrack to the beginning. I tell her the actual story of how I first met Knight, without leaving out the sexy parts, then I round up to the other night.
It feels like I’ve downloaded all that information in one breath, but I’ve been talking for almost an hour.
“I can’t believe you’re only just telling me this.” She shakes her head at me.
“I didn’t want to talk about it because it was confusing and completely inappropriate. I shouldn’t have any sort of feelings for him after everything. Look how he’s been with Sunset Cove, and God knows how he must have dealt with my father behind my back.”
Madison’s brows knit. “You know you can’t help who you have feelings for.”
“But I should. If I don’t, then I’m destined to repeat the past.” She knows exactly what I mean by that comment.
“I don’t believe that. Scott wasScott. What happened between you two was his own game of manipulation. He took advantage of your innocence and feelings for him.” She stares at me in a way that suggests she’s given much thought to her reasoning. “I can’t speak for Knight, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind of man whoneedsto do that.”
She raises a valid point. Knight doesn’t need to do anything. He could catch a woman in his dreams, and he’d wake up with her right next to him.
He doesn’t need me. But that doesn’t mean I should read too much into anything we did.
“I think I need to be careful.”
“Of course, you do. Definitely be careful. But please listen to me when I say this—there’s such a thing as beingtoocareful.”
That sounds like a conflict of advice. “How can that be a bad thing? Hardly anything bad ever happens to people who are too careful.”
She flicks her palms over, suggesting I’ve hit the mark. “But those sorts of people never truly live. All they do is worry so much about all the bad things thatcouldhappen that they stop living. It’s called being stuck in a perpetual comfort zone.”
Clarity seeps into my mind with a warning that I’ve been that kind of person for the last few years, but that isn’t who I want to be.
“I don’t want to be in a perpetual comfort zone,” I scuff.
“Then don’t be. With the wedding a breath away, it might not be a bad thing to see where things go.”
That sounds so simple.
Could it be?
A glance at that sculpture of Giselle tells me it’s not, but like her, I’m stuck.
Stuck on the man, everything he does to me, and everything I still want him to do to me.
I could sit here and try to convince myself that I should be sensible and careful.
But I know I’ll do neither of those things.
So maybe the only option I have is to let whatever is happening between Knight and I take its course.
I return my gaze to Madison and nod. “Okay.”
Chapter27
Aurora
It’s time.
The moment has finally arrived.
I’m getting married in the next few minutes.
I’m at the NYIT de Seversky Mansion, a prestigious estate located on Long Island’s historic Gold Coast. It’s the kind of elegant stately mansion you’d see on TV or a lifestyle magazine listed as the location for some celeb wedding. I never thought I would visit it, let alone get married here.
