Page 41 of Legacy

Her mind fascinated me. She viewed the world through a lens of action and consequence.

I smirked to myself, thinking how the terms had become more of a sexual reference between us than anything else.

There I went again, thinking of fucking her.

I walked around the boxes and made my way through the house.

The idea of people suffering the consequencesof their actionswasa fact of life. I was a practitioner of that very concept. Like the man who’d lied—I killed him for his betrayal. Like the soldier who’d hit a woman, he was beaten and punished. That was life.

As I turned a corner, I paused, seeing Avra carry a large box up a back set of stairs leading to the bedroom section of the house.

The chatter from earlier seemed to have quieted, so I could only assume the sisters had taken their leave.

I followed behind her with her completely oblivious to my presence. I needed to teach her to stay more aware of her surroundings.

No, I’d watched in public. Avra possessed a honed sense of everything around her. Here, she allowed her guard to drop because this was her home. She felt safe here.

A disturbing feeling settled in my chest. If I wasn’t careful, I’d come to love this wife of mine.

That was a weakness, a vulnerability—the last person to have a place in my heart died.

My mother.

I paused at the doorway as she carried the box into our bedroom. Leaning against the frame, I watched her as she moved about, unaware of me.

What the fuck was I doing?

I rubbed my hand over my face.

She straightened, noticing me.

“Are you bored?”

I lifted one brow.With you?

“The other truck isn’t here yet,” I replied. I didn’t owe anexplanation, but it wouldn’t kill me to admit why I was standing around.

“Want to get some food then? Before they arrive?”

“As in what a normal couple would do?”

She strolled up to me, tipping her head back. “There is nothing normal about us.”

The banter we had and this small interaction brought the uneasiness forward.

“That’s true. Where do you want to go?”

“I know a place.” She gave me a sly grin. “Up for a stroll?”

I offered her my hand. “Let’s check out the neighborhood.”

An hour later, after a simple but satisfying lunch at a small place that could only be described as a hole in the wall, Avra and I took the same route back to our house.

“I missed seeing this area,” she admitted. “It makes me so happy that Anna’s is still open. Papa would bring me there when we came into town. It was my special place with him.”

I kept walking, letting her talk. Not once while we ate had she mentioned how much that place meant to her.

I wasn’t sure why she’d decided to bring me there or share the vulnerable memory.

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