Page 32 of Hitched to my Boss

"That's not?—"

"Isn't it? Tell me about your family, Natalia. Tell me about the people who were supposed to take care of you and didn't. Tell me why the idea of needing someone scares you more than being alone."

She goes pale, and I know I've hit a nerve. "My family has nothing to do with this."

"Your family has everything to do with this. You've built your entire identity around not needing anyone because everyone you ever needed let you down." I reach for her hands, noting how she doesn't pull away even though she wants to. "But I'm not them. I came back, Natalia. I finished my job, and I came home to you."

"For three weeks, Jason. You were gone for three weeks while I sat here like some 1950s housewife waiting for her husband to come home." Her voice breaks slightly. "Do you have any idea what that felt like? How much of myself I lost just sitting in this cabin?"

"Then we fix it. We figure out how to make this work for both of us instead of you running away the first time it gets complicated."

"How? How do we fix the fact that my career requires me to be where the opportunities are, and your life is here? How do we fix the fact that I've already lost professional credibility that took me years to build?"

"We get creative. We compromise. We fight for what we want instead of giving up when it gets hard." I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "Natalia, I love you. I'm in love with you. I've never said that to another woman and meant it, but I mean it with you."

Tears shine in her eyes, but her expression doesn't soften. "Love isn't enough, Jason."

"Then what is? What would it take for you to stay and fight for this with me?"

"It would take you understanding that I can't be the only one making sacrifices." She steps back, breaking our connection. "It would take you being willing to leave this mountain and build a life somewhere that works for both our careers, not just yours."

"You want me to leave Whisper Vale?"

"I want you to want more than just your comfortable isolation. I want you to want a life with me that's bigger than this cabin." Her voice grows stronger. "But you won't, will you? Because that would require you to step outside your comfort zone and risk something for love."

The challenge hits hard because she's right. I am asking her to sacrifice everything while I risk nothing. I'm asking her to disappear into my world while I remain safely isolated in the life I've built to protect myself from exactly this kind of vulnerability.

"You don't know what you're asking."

"I'm asking for what every woman has the right to ask for. A partner who's willing to meet me halfway." She moves toward the stairs again. "But you can't do that, can you? You want me to fit into your life exactly as it is, with no changes, no challenges, no growth required on your part."

"That's not true."

"Isn't it? When was the last time you left this mountain for something other than work? When was the last time you took a risk that wasn't calculated and controlled and completely on your terms?"

I open my mouth to argue, then close it because I can't. She's right. I've built my entire adult life around avoiding risk, aroundcontrolling my environment, around never having to depend on anyone or anything that could be taken away.

"I went to Vegas for you."

"You went to Vegas for your business. I just happened to be part of the package." She pauses on the bottom stair, looking back at me with something that might be pity. "Jason, I'm not asking you to change who you are. I'm asking you to grow into who you could be. But that's not something you want, is it?"

"I want you."

"You want the version of me that fits into your life without disrupting it. But that's not who I am, and it's not who I can be." She takes a step up the stairs. "I need to be with someone who wants to build something new together, not someone who wants me to disappear into something old."

"So that's it? You've made up your mind, and nothing I say matters?"

"Nothing you've said so far has convinced me you're willing to do anything differently." She looks at me with sad certainty. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning, Jason. If you want to change my mind, you'll have to do more than ask me to sacrifice everything while you sacrifice nothing."

"What would it take?"

"It would take you proving that you value us more than your comfort zone. It would take you showing me that you're willing to fight for this relationship instead of expecting me to do all the fighting." She starts up the stairs again. "But we both know that's not who you are."

The dismissal stings because it's partially true. I have been expecting her to do all the adapting, all the compromising, all the risk-taking. I've been asking her to love me enough to give up everything while offering nothing in return except the privilege of sharing my carefully controlled existence.

But she's wrong about one thing. She's wrong about who I am when it comes to her.

"Natalia," I call after her.

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