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Damon shifts. “She wasn’t wrong, Kate. I’m married to my job and always have been.”
“Bullshit,” I say, riding a confidence the wine is fueling. “You don’t really believe that.”
A muscle under his cheek jumps.
“She made the decision to cheat on you instead of supporting you and your career. That’s not on you.”
He scoffs as if the possibility that he isn’t truly at fault is absurd.
“Being dedicated to your job doesn’t make you a bad partner, Damon. Aren’t you the one who told me bad relationships will find a way to end one way or another?”
It’s right then that I realize what a contradiction I’ve become, living two lives while pretending the other doesn’t exist.
I’ve been so consumed by my time with Damon that I’ve hardly given Thad a second thought. And though I know I’ve reached a point of no return, dread huffs its tainted breath down my neck, begging for a piece of the magic we’ve found.
It won’t be long before I’m forced to make a choice, but I offer him that broken piece of my heart anyway.
“Do you want to know why I ended up in that rundown motel?”
He gives a slow, careful nod.
“Because once my mother’s husband found out I was in Topica Bay, he cut me off from the joint account.”
I turn my gaze to my lap.
“I was furious at first. In fact, the night we met, I was contemplating cutting my losses and just going back to Georgia. But I refused to let them get the best of me.”
And that’s exactly what would have happened. If I had gone home that next morning, Mom would have greeted me with a smile as she all but handcuffed me to my bedroom.
“Henry was trying to force me into coming home, but all he did was show me what I’d been missing.”
The music outside the tent ceases playing, leaving us to the sounds of the island at night.
“Your situation with Susan is no different. She’s inadvertently handed you a second chance to find what you’ve been missing too,” I finish.
A lone thumb traces the outline of his lips as he studies me. “How did you get so wise in just twenty-three years?”
He’s deflecting, and it’s impossible to know if I’ve gotten through to him with his gaze so stormy. But even still, I hope he hears the truth in my words.
His face softens when he nods to my plate. “Eat.”
Begrudgingly, I pluck a square of cheese from the assortment before me and sit back.
He watches the piece fall between my teeth before I suck it into my mouth, and the air around us grows thicker by the minute.
“May I feed you?” he asks.
Umm… “What?”
“I would like to feed you.”
My smile forms from a soft laugh. “No, I heard you. I just… why?”
Damon unfurls from his spot across the table and stalks over to the empty pillows beside me. I peek up at him from the floor, feeling small comparatively.
“Because making sure you’re satisfied is my top priority.” He gestures to the plate beside me. “But mostly… I want to know how these lips feel wrapped around my fingers.”
For emphasis, he cups my chin, flicking my bottom lip down with his thumb.
