ログインEvelyn POVThe night air hit me, and I gasped, the contrast sharp and sweet, cool air against overheated flesh. My nipples hardened instantly, and I felt myself fully exposed, bare from the waist up under the open sky, but the vulnerability didn't make me want to cover myself. It made me want him to look.And he was looking.His eyes moved over me with a slowness that felt like a touch, tracing the lines of my collarbones, the swell of my breasts, the peaks that had tightened in the cool air. He took me in as though he were committing every detail to a memory he never wanted to lose."You're beautiful," he said. His voice had gone hoarse, cracked at the edges. "Evelyn, you're so beautiful it hurts to look at you."He raised his hand. It hovered between us, close enough that I could feel the heat of his palm against my skin without contact."Can I touch you?" he asked.I nodded.His hand made contact with my lef
Evelyn POV"Is it just me, or is it suddenly very warm up here?"Adrian looked at me, and I noticed a sheen of perspiration along his hairline that hadn't been there five minutes ago. He tugged at the collar of his T-shirt and exhaled slowly."It's not just you," he said. "I feel it too."He leaned forward and fanned me with his hand, but the warmth was coming from inside, not outside. It spread from my chest outward through my limbs with a rhythm that matched my pulse, settling into my skin as though my body had decided to generate its own heat. The night air was cool against my bare arms and the damp ends of my hair, but underneath that coolness, something was burning.I shifted on the love seat. My clothes felt like thorns on my skin. Every thread of my t-shirt registered against my skin as though my nerve endings had been amplified. The cotton brushed across my collarbone, and I shivered, which made no sense because I was overh
Evelyn POV"And I believed her. Not because the evidence supported it, but because believing her was simpler than admitting that I was afraid. If you were scheming, I didn't have to feel guilty for treating you badly. If you were performing, I didn't have to acknowledge that my coldness was hurting a real person. Isabella gave me a story that let me off the hook, and I held onto that story because letting go of it meant looking at myself honestly, and I wasn't ready to do that."His thumb moved slowly across my knuckles."But I can't lay all of it on Isabella. That would be too easy, and you deserve better than easy answers. The truth is, the signs were there—every sign. You cooked meals I never tasted. You helped with company reports I never thanked you for. You took care of my mother with a devotion that had nothing to do with strategy and everything to do with who you are as a person. And I ignored all of it because I was comfortable in
Evelyn POVWe sat in silence for a while, looking at the stars. The sky was vast and dark and indifferent in the way that only the sky can be, and something was soothing about that indifference. Up there, nobody cared about Green Valley, investor withdrawals, fake portfolio managers, or golf club parking fines. Up there, it was just light, distance, and time."Tonight," I said, turning to Adrian, "I'm going to pretend that in another universe, we're lovers. No history, no baggage, no complicated past. Just two people sharing wine on a rooftop." I held his gaze. "Open the bottle."An appreciative glint moved through his eyes, and he nodded slowly before he reached for the corkscrew and opened the Château Rosaire with the flick of his wrist.The cork came out with a soft pop, and the scent of the wine drifted upward immediately, dark and rich and layered, blackberries and woodsmoke and something floral underneath, like roses pressed b
Evelyn POVMy mother loved this wine. It was the one indulgence she'd allowed herself, the one bottle she'd kept on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet for special occasions only. She'd open it on birthdays, anniversaries, the first day of spring. She'd pour herself a single glass, sit at the kitchen table, and close her eyes after the first sip as if the taste transported her somewhere private and sacred that nobody else was allowed to follow.After she died, I spent years trying to find it. Château Rosaire didn't export widely, and its distribution was limited to a handful of shops in Casavera and a few specialist wine merchants abroad. I'd finally tracked down a case through a dealer in Lisaro during my first year running Bennett Holdings, and I'd been rationing it ever since, one bottle at a time, opened only on nights when I needed to feel close to someone who wasn't there anymore.Margaret remembered. Out of everything about me that
Evelyn POVI turned to Adrian, searching his face. He had an awkward expression, and he was stroking his brows. “You were in the middle of a meeting? Why didn’t you say so? You could have said something,” I insisted, suddenly feeling guilty.“It was nothing important,” Adrian sighed, glaring at his mother, who was sipping her tea and trying to hold back her smile. “You needed me so…”“The quarterly review is hardly something I’d call unimportant,” Margaret chipped in. “Last year, Adrian fired a CFO for bringing a phone in, and it rang during the session. You know how intense he can be. If Adrian had left that meeting to come to you, it means he considers you important.”“Mom, that’s enough.” Adrian turned, glaring at Margaret, who just smiled and sipped more of her tea.My heart warmed at Adrian’s embarrassment, and I, more than anyone, knew how intense it used to be around the house whenever it was time for quarterly reviews. In my previous life, he’d walk around irritable, and every
Evelyn POVI was waiting for Adrian to explain why he was here when the door suddenly opened. Grace walked in carrying a terracotta pot with a small rose bush in it."Evelyn, Vincent has received his daily dose of sunlight. I'm here to..." Grace trailed off when she noticed Adrian sitting across fr
Adrian POVThe iPad shattered against the wall with a satisfying crash, pieces of glass and metal scattering across the expensive carpet. I turned to face my trembling secretary, Linda, who was still standing by my desk with a stack of papers clutched to her chest."Is this the only thing you can p
Adrian POVI stared at the contract in front of me, reading the same paragraph for the third time without absorbing a single word. The letters seemed to blur together, and I found myself rechecking my phone.Nothing.It had been over twelve hours since I'd made the public announcement withdrawing W
Evelyn POVHe staggered backwards, holding his face in shock. "You hit me!""I should do more than hit you," I said with gritted teeth. "You're a disgrace to my father's memory."Victoria came running into the room, drawn by the commotion. "What's going on? Damien, are you okay?""Your son assaulte







