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He finishes off his glass of red wine and smiles at me tiredly, his eyes unusually soft. “I should get back to work,” he murmurs, still making no move to go.
I give him a half shrug and slant him a teasing look. “I’m not stopping you.”
“Yes, you are.” His lips are twitching a little.
“I haven’t said a thing!”
“Sweetheart, you don’t need to say anything to distract me.” He reaches up a hand to gently brush my hair back from my face.
I’m feeling a little sappy but decide it’s all right to indulge it.
We’re clearing up the table when I remember something else. “Did you see the news about Amber?”
“I did. We figured it was coming.”
Last month, Amber started dating a wealthy film producer, forty years older than her. Today it was announced they are engaged. So she’ll get the lifestyle she’s always wanted and a man who is probably much easier to manipulate than William.
“You feel okay about it, don’t you?” he prompts when I don’t reply. He tilts his head so he can better see my expression.
“Yeah. I’m fine. As long as she’s safe and doesn’t break the nondisclosure form, I don’t really care what she does. It would be nice if we could be close again, but I guess that will probably never happen.”
“Probably not.” He steps over so he can hug me, pulling me against the length of his body.
His embrace is warm and soothing. It fills me. He fills me.
He makes everything better.
“I don’t imagine she’s really happy, but maybe she’s satisfied at least,” I finally say, pulling away from him enough to look up but still holding on to his hips. “I hope so.”
His eyes soften on my face.
“What?” I’m a little embarrassed for some reason.
“Nothing.” He leans over to kiss me briefly as I lean against the kitchen sink. “I just like to see how big a heart you have.”
“Well, she’s my sister,” I mumble, almost defensively.
“I know she is.” He wraps his arms around me again. “I know she is.”
When we pull apart, William says, “Okay. Now I really do need to get a little more work done.”
“That’s fine. I’m going to take a bath and relax some. But just keep in mind that I’ll be expecting you in bed before too late tonight.”
“I won’t forget.”
“I mean it. I’ll come get you if you work too late, and I’ll drag you to bed if I have to.”
“I never doubted it.”
I love the dryness in his tone and smile at him rather besottedly. “I love you, William. You know that, right?”
“I do. Conveniently, I love you too.”
William is smiling as he returns to his office, and I’m smiling as I finish putting up the leftovers of my delicious meal.
Six months ago, I took my sister’s identity out of desperation and met William Worthing for the first time in the guise of someone else. It’s hard to wrap my mind around how different my life is now.
William and I both spent most of our lives believing we’d never be anything but alone, and now we get to spend our forevers together.
