Winning Her Back

I stood in front of the two large oak doors as the delicate bouquet of white roses shook in my fingers. The carvings within the wood were so detailed they almost seemed intimidating. It truly was hard to believe that in a moment, I would walk through them into a life I was not so sure I was ready for.It wasn't very reminiscent of a wedding day, even to me. No overwhelming joy, no nervous anticipation of a beautiful beginning, just heavy, obliging weight squarely upon my chest. I looked down at the sleek satin gown my mother insisted on; the thought of its price still wrenched at my stomach. Beautiful indeed, but it felt more like an armor than something a bride would wear. "Lila," my mother whispered beside me, firm but pleading. "Stop fidgeting. You're marrying into the Blackwell family. Do you know what that means for us?"Of course, I knew, how could I not have? The Blackwells were untouchable, wealthy beyond my imagination, and my mother's closest friend, Margaret Blackwell, was

ETHAN'S POV The sound of my pen scratching across the paper was the only thing tethering me to reality as chaos swirled around the office. Numbers, reports, projections, they were safe, predictable. They didn’t ask questions or pry into the disaster that was my personal life. They didn’t care about the sham of a marriage I’d been forced into.Business didn't need my heart.The phone on my desk jingled, and I glanced over at the name scrolling on the face of the phone. My jaw was clenched. Of course it would be her.I let it ring.A minute later, my assistant's voice crackled over the intercom. "Mr. Blackwell, your mother is on line one. Shall I connect her?""No," I said curtly. "Tell her I'm in a meeting."I leaned back in my chair and exhaled deeply. I didn't hate my mother, deep down, I really love her, but her meddling finally went too far. Her arrangement for me to marry Lila was the ultimate betrayal.Lila.She roused in me a confused tempest.I did not want a wife. I did not w

The following day of the dinner party felt bleak, too bleak. The mansion stood as an empty reminder of how it once had been; it was me and my thoughts, with hardly a wisp of lilies still wafting through the air from last evening. I sat at the kitchen counter, clutching a steaming cup of tea within my grasp as my thoughts replayed every second of last night and before.Ethan had been maddeningly vague, as usual. A brief flicker of something, warmth maybe? Yearning? But it vanished in effect the very moment it had existed, and I was left grasping at thin air. I recalled the way his hand lay across my back, fingers merely grazing my skin as we greeted the guests. For a second, it seemed like we were in a perfect world where he was mine. But then came his cold, clipped words after everyone left, slicing through whatever fragile connection we’d formed.Why couldn’t he just let me in?I breathed out and put the cup down, and then I stood up to clear my head. I went into the library, the sce

Ethan’s POV The house was too quiet.I sat at the head of the dinner table, a plate of untasted food in front of me. I adored the quietness of this house; it was the sole place where I could think without interruption, without useless chatter. Yet now, quietness was too loud, too conspicuous.She'd been gone for four days.It should have been impossible to care, I wanted distance, didn't I? Her absence was supposed to be a relief. No gentle smiles that I could not reciprocate, no optimistic glances that caused my chest to feel sore. But now, the empty spaces were more oppressive with the air condensed by her absence.I pushed the plate away and stood; chair scraping against the floor. I needed to get to work. Work puts my head in order. Numbers made sense, logic. Unlike Lila.At the office, I delved into reports and meetings. But my mind betrayed me and wandered to her at the most inopportune times.I recalled the way she'd stood in the library the other day, her lips slightly apart

Soft afternoon light passed slowly through giant windows of the living room onto the gleaming floor. I smoothed out the edge of my blouse on the plush cream sofa, waiting anxiously for Dan, my wonderful gay friend. It had been years since he and I last met.I came close to leaping to my feet at the doorbell. I smoothed my skirt, pulled open the door, and was immediately confronted with Dan's broad, wicked grin."Lila!" he bellowed, sweeping me into a bear hug. "You look amazing, as always. Though you might have given me some warning that you were still among the living sometime within the last year!"I laughed sheepishly. "I know, I know. Sorry, Dan. Things have just.been complicated."He moved back, eyes locking with mine as hard brown ones scanned my face. "Complicated, huh? We'll see about that. But just let me in for now, unless you'd rather have the neighbors believe I'm harassing you on the porch."I shifted over, and Dan came into the living room, lighting the room as effortles