Page 49 of If He Hadn't Cheated
“I did but you could say I look fantastic in the dress you bought for me.”
He studies me for a long moment. “You look fantastic in the dress I bought for you. Black I say favorite color.”
“I realized I never needed to be saved. I needed to save myself for the right reasons. For me.”
His jaw softens. “You’re right. I didn’t save you.” He steps closer, lowering his voice. “You saved me.”
The music shifts, slower now, a soft melody wrapping around the room. He offers his hand. “Dance with me?”
For a second, I hesitate. Then I take it. His palm is warm, familiar. We move together easily, the way we always should have. No tension. No pretending. Just movement.
People stare, but neither of us looks away.
His hand rests at the small of my back. “You were right,” he says quietly. “Mirrors only show what we want to see.”
“And what do you see now?”
He looks down at me, his expression open, unguarded. “A woman who found herself when I was too afraid to lose control.”
I smile, my chest aching in the best way. “And what about you?”
He presses his forehead lightly against mine. “A man who finally stopped fighting peace.”
The song fades, but he doesn’t let go. The world narrows to the space between our breaths.
“I love you,” I whisper.
His eyes close. “Then maybe love isn’t about saving anyone.”
“Maybe it’s about standing beside them.”
He nods, his thumb brushing my cheek. “Then stand with me.”
I do.
The room fades away. The music, the whispers, the lights and none of it matters.
It’s just us.
The two people who met in the wreckage and decided to build something new from it.
As the night goes on, I catch our reflection in one of the ballroom mirrors.
We look strong. Real. Whole.
For once, I don’t flinch from what I see. Love didn’t fix me. It gave me a reason to keep fighting.
24
Back in the office, I’ve fallen into a rhythm, but it’s a rhythm shaped entirely around him. The way Knox taps his pen twice when he’s thinking. The way he loosens his tie by afternoon. The way he always, always notices me.
We spend more time together than necessary. Long strategy sessions. Quiet lunches in his private break room where he always pushes his untouched fries toward me without looking. The board didn’t give a shit about the affair when Knox told them about my history with Sebastian. It’s like it all went up in smoke. A jealous ex with a cease and desist sent by Knox’s lawyer.
He doesn’t touch me. Not accidentally. Not flirtatiously.
But the air between us is charged.
Today, we’re reviewing projections on one of the new accounts. I’m focused, determined not to let myself be distracted. But it’s impossible not to feel his gaze.
