LOGINAlicia's POV His arm was across my waist when I woke. The room was grey with early light, the city outside still quiet, the type of quiet that belongs to the hour before a place fully commits to its day. I lay still for a moment. The weight of his arm. The warmth of the room. The dress lying acros
Her hands moved from my shoulders to my face, her palms cupping my jaw, her thumbs stroking my cheeks. It was a gesture of such unexpected tenderness it nearly undid me. Her eyes, dark and dazed, locked onto mine. In them, I saw not the woman I had wronged, but the woman I was with, in this moment,
Her hand anchored hard against the back of my head, fingers tangling in my hair, holding me exactly where she needed me. For a moment, I wasn't the man who had failed her. I was just a man giving her pleasure. She said my name once, twice, the third time broken completely, and her whole body arched
Edward's POV Her mouth was on mine when I got the door open. I walked her backward into the room, the city lights filtering through the window in thin strips that barely illuminated the space. Her hands were already at my collar, working open the buttons of my shirt with an urgency that sent a jol
Alicia's POV The restaurant Edmund had not arranged. Edward had seen it from the car on the second day and remembered it. No assistant. No agenda attached to the table. We walked there. He asked about Lily before we reached the first corner. "Is she still seeing the cardiologist every three mon
I ordered wine. The work wasn't finished. The room was quieter. She took the glass without comment. Drank. Set it down and kept writing. She spoke about the eastern corridor communities directly, without framing or adjustment, as if they existed in the room with us. Her hand moved as she talked, m
Then he was gone. I stood there holding his card. The absurdity of it hit me. My entire life had just imploded in front of two hundred people, and someone had just... flirted with me? I almost laughed. Footsteps again. Daniel. He walked over slowly. Stopped in front of me. His face was still
Alicia's POV The hall didn't explode after Edward left. It collapsed inward. Two hundred people sat frozen. Just staring at the door he'd walked through like it might give them answers. I stayed in my seat. Hands folded in my lap. Back straight. Breathing slowly, I could convince myself I was
Daniel's posture straightened beside me. I didn't need him to intervene. "Edward values control," I said. Soft. Precise. "There's a difference." Lucy's face drained of color. "You don't know him the way—" "The way you do?" I smiled. Small. Brittle. "No, Lucy. I suppose I don't." Let them hear
She wasn't gloating. Wasn't attacking. That made it worse. My hands went cold. I looked at the podium where Vivienne still stood. Then I walked. Not to my seat. To the podium. Slow. Two hundred people watched me. Vivienne stepped back when I got close. Her face pale. Eyes wide. I put both







