I’ve built an empire by solving problems everyone else said wereunsolvable.
So why the fuck am I lying here accepting that Sorrel and I are impossible?
Why?
I told her I’d fight.
I toldmyselfI’d fucking fight.
My brain runs numbers.
Drafts proposals.
Thinks of ways to turn my resources toward something that actually matters.
Not quarterly profits or extraction efficiency or stock price.
Her.
Hervalues.
Building something together.
Something that could make arealfucking difference.
An idea begins to coalesce in my mind.
Something that’s been there, hidden just out of view, ever since she explained her dissertation research.
I can’t help but grin.
Maybe there’s a way to build a bridge across the gulf that separates us after all.
I think I might have found a way.
I just need to figure out how to present it without sounding like I’m trying to buy her.
Across the room, Sorrel shifts in her sleep. Makes a small sound that might be my name.
I close my eyes and let myself imagine a future where this works.
Tomorrow is the most important day of my life.
Because tomorrow is the day I have to convince her that we’re not impossible.
24
Sorrel
Iwake up alone.
Which shouldn’t surprise me considering I basically told Gregory to fuck off last night. Well, not in those exact words, but the message was pretty clear.
God, I’m such an idiot.
I lie there for a moment, staring at the ceiling beams, secretly wishing he’d crossed the sectional in the night. Wrapped those ridiculous arms around me. Whispered that we’d figure it out. Maybe pressed his morning wood against my ass and made me forget why I was being such a coward.
Our last night together and we wasted it.
