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Chapter 26 - That Wasn't Pretending

Author: Avery Monroe
last update publish date: 2026-10-29 05:04:37

Callum made it three streets before he stopped himself from calling Ailsa.

That counted as progress.

The car moved through Edinburgh while he sat with his phone face down beside him and remembered exactly how she had touched his jaw before kissing him.

No audience.

No demand from a reporter.

No useful explanation.

She had chosen it.

He had wanted it.

Those were the only facts that mattered, and he had no intention of turning either one into permission for something she had not chosen yet.

The n
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  • The Billionaire I’ll Never Marry   Chapter 71 - The Person I Call

    The message arrived at six seventeen, after everyone else at Exit had gone home.Ailsa nearly left it for morning.The subject line was ordinary: Update.Then she recognized the sender.A woman Exit had supported the previous year had written through the secure client address. She no longer needed emergency accommodation. She had signed a lease in her own name, changed jobs, and closed the last joint account that had kept pulling her back into conversations she no longer wanted.Ailsa read the message twice.The woman had not taken the cleanest route. She had gone back once, delayed leaving again, and rejected one housing option because she hated the neighborhood even though it was cheaper and safer.Exit had kept the options open anyway.Now she was writing because she wanted them to know she was fine.More than fine, apparently.Ailsa leaned back in her chair.For weeks, she had spent so much time defendi

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    Callum woke before Ailsa.For several seconds, he did not move.She was on her side facing him, one hand curled near her face, hair spread across the pillow she had claimed as hers two nights earlier. The duvet had migrated toward her again.He almost smiled.Then he noticed that his hand was resting close to her waist without touching her.Callum left it there.Last night had changed what they knew about each other.It had not changed what he was allowed to assume.Ailsa stirred a few minutes later and opened her eyes.“Morning.”“Morning.”She blinked at him.“You're staring.”“I was waiting for you to wake up,” Callum said.“That sounds worse.”Callum smiled.Ailsa shifted onto her back.Her gaze dropped briefly to the space between them, then returned to his face.He did not close it.&ldq

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