Page 28 of Hitched to my Boss

"We just got home. We're supposed to be figuring out how to live together."

"And we will. But right now, Marcus needs you to do the job he's paying you for." She sits up, reaching for her sweater. "Jason, this is exactly the kind of high-profile success that couldtransform your business. You can't delay because of personal considerations."

"What about you? I can't leave you here alone when you've just moved in."

"I'm a grown woman who's perfectly capable of settling into a mountain cabin without supervision." Her smile is warm, understanding. "Besides, this gives me time to handle my own client emergencies and figure out how to set up a proper remote office."

"You have client emergencies?"

"Three projects that have been neglected while I was busy getting accidentally married and falling in love." She reaches up to touch my face. "Jason, we both have work that needs attention. Let's handle our professional obligations so we can focus on our personal ones when you get back."

The practical side of me knows she's right. But the part of me that's just discovered what it feels like to have someone to come home to rebels against leaving so soon.

"How long do you think you'll be gone?" she asks.

"Two weeks, maybe three depending on what I find." I pull out my phone to respond to Hartwell. "I can leave first thing in the morning."

"Then we have tonight." There's something in her voice that makes me look at her more carefully. Heat, anticipation, and a boldness that sends electricity through my system.

"Tonight," I repeat, understanding exactly what she's implying.

"Tonight," she confirms, rising on her toes to brush her lips against mine. "Our first night as a married couple in our home."

"I'm going to miss this," I murmur, pulling her closer. "Miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." She kisses me softly, briefly. "But when you get back, we'll have all the time in the world to figure out what being married really means."

"Promise?"

"Promise." I tighten my arms around her. "This is just the beginning, Natalia. We've got the rest of our lives to get this right."

We have tonight. We have a future. And we have each other.

8

NATALIA

The cabin feels enormous without Jason in it.

I stand in the kitchen, holding my morning coffee and staring out at the mountains he disappeared into a week ago. The silence should be peaceful. For ten years, I've craved quiet spaces where I can think without interruption, work without distraction, exist without having to consider anyone else's needs or schedule.

Instead, I feel like I'm rattling around in a space that's too big despite being designed for one person.

"This is ridiculous," I mutter to myself, settling at the dining table with my laptop and the stack of client files I've been neglecting. "You lived alone for years before you accidentally married a mountain man. You can handle a few days of solitude."

But as I open my computer and try to focus on the crisis management strategy I'm developing for a tech executive caught in a patent dispute, my eyes keep drifting to Jason's empty chair across from me. The mug he'd forgotten to wash before leavingsits in the sink, a small reminder of his presence that I can't bring myself to clean.

My phone buzzes with a text from Maya.

Maya: How's life as a mountain wife? Are you going completely stir crazy yet?

Me: I'm getting plenty of work done. The isolation is actually quite productive.

Maya: That's not what I asked. Are you missing your husband?

I stare at the question, fingers hovering over the keyboard. Missing him seems too simple a word for what I'm experiencing. It's more like feeling off-balance, like trying to navigate a space that's missing a crucial piece of furniture.

The week has been productive, objectively speaking. I've set up a proper home office in the spare room, established routines for working remotely, and even started a few organizational projects around the cabin. But every morning when I wake up in our bed alone, every evening when I cook dinner for one, every moment when I catch myself listening for the sound of his truck in the driveway, I'm reminded that productivity isn't the same as happiness.

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