Layla’s POVI had not planned to go to the boutique today.It was one of those spontaneous decisions that happened on a Tuesday afternoon when a meeting got cancelled and I decided to go outside and get some air because apparently I had been sitting at my desk since seven in the morning and my eyes were doing something concerning.So I went outside.The boutique was three blocks from the office — one of those small, well-curated places that did not advertise aggressively because it did not need to, the kind of shop that relied entirely on word of mouth and the particular loyalty of people who had found it and never wanted to shop anywhere else.I was looking at a display near the entrance — a silk scarf in a shade of green that I had not decided about yet — when someone stopped beside me.“Layla.”I turned.Eric Petrakis was standing two feet away, looking at me with the open, easy smile I remembered from a beach in Bora Bora. Taller than I remembered somehow. Same warm energy.“Is thi
Last Updated : 2026-04-27
