Semua Bab The Single Dad Next Door Loves Me: Bab 31 - Bab 40

The morning after did not feel the way I thought it would.It felt settled, like snow that had fallen heavily in the night and decided to stay.I woke slowly, aware first of the warmth around me before my memory clicked.Ethan's arm lay firmly across my waist, not heavy to restrain me but solid enough that I understood the message even in sleep.He had held on. The cabin was quiet, washed in pale winter light that filtered through the curtains and worsened the edges of everything it touched.For a long moment, I watched him. He did not look guarded like the way he always did at dawm, when the world crept back in and reminded him of his troubles.His face was different too. The way his mouth lost that careful tension. If I didn't know him any better, I would have thought he had never learned to brace himself at all.His fingers shifted slightly against my side as though he was confirming I was still there.“I can feel you staring.” He murmured, his voice thick with sleep.“Then stop pr

The cabin’s air was slow at night but woke slowly as though it was too reluctant to disturb whatever fragile calm hSnow rested thick along the windowsills and the world beyond the glass locked untouched. Quiet underneath that beautiful morning sky. For a few suspenders moments after I had opened my eyes, I allowed myself to believe nothing has shifted. Ethan's steady breathing behind me, the faint sound of the heater, the smell of coffee that was going to come after. All of it felt normal and real and i… I loved it.That was until the memory of what we dealt with returned.The call. The implication of what Lucas had told him. Ethan's face filled with horror. It would be unfortunate if something disrupted the place we built.Ethan was already awake when I turned in his direction. I felt it in the subtle alertness of his body. The way he laid still only because he was resting and listening.“You’re thinking too loudly,” I murmured.A faint breath of amusement touched the back of my ne

The cabin did not feel the same after the car disappeared.Nothing had happened. No one approached the door. No threat has been spoken aloud. And yet the air had shifted in a way that could not be undone. It pressed inward, subtle but insistent, like the world has leaned closer and decided it would not look away again.Ethan checked the locks twice before before bed. He did not comment on it. He did not need to. I watched the quiet way he did things, the way he moved I understood how he loved.Through vigilance, through control and through standing between danger and mattered so the ones he loved could be safe.I laid awake longer than I admitted. I listened to every sound, the wind against the siding window and the faint hum of the heater. Once,the groan of wood settling made my heart lurch before reasonibg returned.I spent many years building a life defined by logic and forward motion, I was always with contracts and deadlines, making sure I was taking calculated risk but I never f

The first time Ethan said his name, he did not look at me. “Bradley’s back in town.”He was standing at the counter, coffee untouched in his hand, staring out the window as if the terrs beyond the clearing might offer something steadier than the conversation he was about to have. His voice was neutral, too controlled to be casual.“Bradley…” I repeated. “I'm not sure I know who that is.” “I mentioned him before I think. My ex wife… or didn't I?”I exhaled softly, anyone connected to his ex wife with that name had to have been related to go her. “Your brother in law?”“Yes.” He nodded. I waited for more. None came. Only his name. Not what he wanted or what he was coming to do.Outside, the afternoon light was pale and sharp against the remaining patches of snow. It should have felt peaceful but instead, there was a hom beneath everything lately. Something didn't quite sit well lately. Something I could barely ignore.“Did he call?” I asked.“He didn't need to.” Ethan set the mug down

That night, the cabin felt like hell. The warmth from the full house was perfect but yet, the walls felt foreign and nothing like the house I yearned to spend the rest of my life in.Bradley's words had not left with him when the door shut. They lingered in the corner of the rooms in the wooden table and in the space between the refrigerator where Lily's drawing hung brightly.‘You fail the woman that trust you.”I sat on the edge of the bed with my laptop open, the blue light washing over my hands. Sophia’s messages stared back at me.‘I haven't heard from you yet, Mia. We need a confirmation by tomorrow morning. If you're coming to Boston, I’ll finalize the board presentation, if not, I'll have to assign it.”The words she used was nothing like how Sophia sounded. Maybe I wasn't reading it well, but this time, she was clean and professional, nothing like the rest of the things in my life.I scrolled through the attached documents without really seeing them. Figures, projections and