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SARAH
I tear away from him, breath caught in my throat, heart hammering in my chest. My skin still tingles from the kiss, our first kiss, and yet I’m already retreating, stumbling back like I’d just been caught doing something forbidden.
There's a knock on the door next.
I freeze. But it’s not my father's voice....thank God. I run toward the door, open it quickly, and there she is: a maid, standing straight with her hands folded politely.
“Your father needs you downstairs, miss,” she says.
“I’ll be there right away,” I manage.
She nods, turns, and disappears down the hallway.
I close the door, press my forehead against it, and exhale slowly. My chest rises and falls, my pulse still racing, not just from the kiss, but from the sheer panic of what almost happened. What did happen.
Then I turn back. Cullen is watching me. I don’t know how to explain the look on his face. It’s quiet, still, but there’s something in his eyes. Something I haven’t seen in a long time. Maybe ever.
Like he likes me.
Like he cares.
Like he’s seeing me for the first time and finally understands what he stands to lose.
“I have to go downstairs,” I say quietly. “My father's asking for me. It’s better if I go than if he comes up here and finds you.”
“Yeah, of course,” Cullen says, nodding. “I know that too.”
I pause, then add, softer, “I’ll come to see you when you’re done.”
“Of course. Don’t worry if you can’t,” he says,
I smile awkwardly, not knowing what else to do and then I open the door and practically run out of there.
My father had asked me to come down for my birthday party. Well, technically, it was going to be just a family affair. But apparently, even for a family dinner, I was expected to wear evening wear. Of course. I should have seen it coming the moment I stepped into his office and he looked at me with that proud, amused glint in his eyes.
He had someone bring in a whole rack of dresses. Five of them.
“I couldn’t decide,” he said, like it was a perfectly normal thing to buy every single option. “So I got all five.”
I didn’t even know what to say. I was touched. I was overwhelmed. I was still trying to wrap my head around how today, of all days, was my birthday. I had completely forgotten, what with everything that had happened: my marriage, the water, Cullen.
Still, I smiled. Because my father was trying. Because he saw me as his proud, beautiful daughter again. Because this... was peace. We talked for a bit. He asked what colour scheme I might want for the dinner table. Something warm, I said. Something soft. Nothing bright. He agreed without hesitation.
And then we played chess. He beat me. Of course he did. Checkmate, like always. Afterwards, he took a phone call. I didn’t ask who it was from. I didn’t want to know. I just quietly stood up and left his office, making my way back through the long halls of the estate. It was almost lunchtime by then.
But something was bothering me. I needed to check on Cullen.
I don’t know why. Maybe because I had this irrational fear that my father knew he was there, that this whole warm, celebratory mood was a distraction to keep me away so he could send someone to deal with him. Maybe it was paranoia. Or maybe it was something else.
I climbed the stairs quickly, phone in hand. When I reached the door to my bedroom, I pushed it open and stepped inside. Cullen was still there, sitting up, his hair a little damp, his body wrapped in the clothes I had stolen from my brother’s room. He looked up, smiling, casual, like this wasn’t the most bizarre situation in the world.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I replied. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing better. Don’t worry. By the time night comes, I’ll be able to leave.”
That stopped me a little. It shouldn't have hurt but it did.
He wasn’t staying. This wasn’t permanent. We weren’t together again. We weren’t married in any real sense anymore. Not like before. And hearing him talk about leaving… it stung in a place I didn’t know still existed.
But I nodded. Because I wasn’t going to fall apart over a smile and a towel and a kiss that didn’t mean anything.... Right?
“Okay,” I said. “I just came to check on you. My dad’s definitely still on the phone, and I thought… well. I thought I’d bring you something. Do you want anything? Water? Juice?”
“No, I’m fine. Really,” he said. “Don’t worry so much about me.”
I nodded again, grateful that we weren't bringing up the kiss. So I left. I went downstairs. I had lunch with my father—just the two of us. It was calm. It was pleasant. It was normal in the way things never used to be.
Then he stood up. “Quick meeting,” he said. “I’ll be back before dinner.”
I watched him leave. And then I took lunch upstairs for Cullen. I knocked softly, stepped inside, and handed him the tray.
“I’m doing something downstairs,” I lied. “I’ll just leave this here.”
He didn’t question me. I left quickly and made my way to the library.
Because yes, part of me wanted space. Because yes, I didn’t trust what would happen if I stayed up there with him much longer. Because yes, if we stayed alone in that room again, we might kiss. And I wasn’t sure if I was ready to survive that twice in one day.
Later, when I went back into my bedroom, it was because I had to start getting ready for dinner with my family. I didn’t really know what that dinner was going to look like, or how it would feel. My brothers were coming. That alone made it complicated.
But as I opened the door and stepped inside, I found him, Cullen, sitting on the bed. He wasn’t doing anything. He was just there, still, quiet, almost like he was waiting for something. Or maybe for nothing at all.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” he replied.
We both smiled, awkward, but soft. There was a kind of laugh hidden in that smile, like we knew how strange all of this was. Like we didn’t know how else to be.
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