All Chapters of He Chose My Sister, So I Married His Enemy: Chapter 301 - Chapter 310

"By the end of that first week, I told them I intended to accept," Damien said, "if the practical terms could be made to work." He said it slowly, like a man setting something heavy down on a table between us. "Nothing's signed. It's conditional. But I gave them that answer.""And since then?""They've started preparing around it. Talking through how the work would be organized, who would report to me, what the first few months would look like." He winced faintly. "Not as if it's settled. As if it's likely."I understood the difference at once, and it sat badly in my chest. Exploring something was a man standing at a door. This was other people quietly arranging furniture on the other side of it, because he had told them he'd probably walk through.My fingers loosened around his without my deciding to. He noticed, and I watched him not tighten his grip, not pull me closer, not lean in to kiss the moment into something softer. He just let my hand stay where it was, resting against his,

I could still feel the front of his shirt against my forehead when I got to my desk, the faint pressure of it, the warmth. It didn't soften the irritation, and the irritation didn't cancel the wanting, so I carried both into the morning like two bags I couldn't put down. I wondered whether tonight would feel different now that he'd promised to stop arriving with the answer already wrapped.Claire found me before I'd finished my coffee. "Partner wants an extra pilot slot on Thursdays. They've asked twice.""Do we have the coverage?""I think we do," Claire said. "It's good for us, honestly. It shows demand, and it keeps the partner invested."Grace joined us on a call a few minutes later, and her voice was more careful. "I'd rather not say yes until I know the coordinator can take it without us thinning the backup on Fridays. We've stretched that before.""Can you find out?" I asked."She's in a session until noon. I'll ask her after.""Then I'll wait," I said, and I did not offer to g

"It would make sense," Damien began, "if we could get the travel down. And the company would benefit, honestly, because the two divisions have been...""Damien." I squeezed his hand, gently. "I've heard the reasons. I asked what you want."He stopped. For a second he looked almost annoyed, the way he did when someone cut a sentence off before he'd reached the part he'd rehearsed. Then it went out of his face, and he looked down at our hands."I want it," he said.He didn't add anything. No *but* tucked behind it, no offer to say no if I asked. He just sat there with the words out in the room, and I watched how exposed he looked, a man who had said aloud something that could cost us both."Okay," I said, quietly. "Tell me what it is about it.""Two divisions building the same thing, and nobody's made the time to bring them together properly." He let out a breath. "I've carried the picture of how it should work for years. I can see where the pieces go. And there's a group of people in t

"I'd still read every report," I said, before he could answer. "Grace could lead more of the sessions, and I'd stay involved from here. It wouldn't be like handing off a file. It's the part where I actually go and stand in the room, but it's also the part that takes the most evenings."Damien didn't say yes or no. He took the pot from the burner and set it on a trivet, giving his hands something to do. "Which visits do you mean?""The one next week, to start." I heard how quickly I'd answered. "And probably the one after that, and whatever gets scheduled after the first pilot site is stable. Grace is ready for most of it.""That's a lot of visits for something you said as an idea.""It's an idea with a list attached." I smiled, and he almost did, and then he reached for the plates.We served dinner and ate on the sofa again, my feet tucked under me, his shoulder warm against mine. When I stood to get water, he caught my hand as I passed, just held it for a second, and I leaned down an

We stayed on the sofa a while after that, neither of us in any hurry to stand. Damien's hand moved slowly against my knee, and at some point I tucked my feet beneath me and leaned into his side, because the question we'd found felt like a door we'd both been walking past for weeks. "You're thinking," he said."So are you.""I'm thinking you're warm and I haven't asked a single useful question in four minutes.""That's not a crime." I tipped my head back and kissed the corner of his jaw, and he turned and kissed me properly, slow and easy, the kind of kiss that didn't need to prove anything. We still didn't know whether the opportunity could fit our marriage. But for the first time that week, we were looking at the same thing together, and it eased something in my chest I hadn't known was clenched.Friday morning, he stood at the bathroom mirror while I dried my hair, and told me his plan without turning around. "I'm going to ask them to separate what needs me on site from what other p