He looked different from the previous night. More relaxed in a white cotton button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, tucked into a pair of blue jeans. As handsome as he’d looked the night before, she preferred this look.
She was most comfortable with that version of him because it brought him closer to her level.
She’d always been most comfortable in leggings or jeans and a T-shirt, though recently, she’d begun wearing dresses more frequently. The looser, the better. Her growing bump didn’t like anything too restrictive around it.
As Julian sat down across from her in the chair Lucy had vacated, he stared at the plates of food before looking at her. “Hungry this morning?”
“A little,” she said. “Lucy ordered more than I actually asked for because she thought I might decide I wanted something more.”
“She certainly got you some options.”
“Help yourself,” Kiara told him. “I’m not going to eat it all.”
He seemed content with just his coffee, but Kiara was still hungry, so she returned her attention to her plate of waffles… after she’d picked up a couple of pieces of bacon.
“How did you sleep?” Julian asked. “Lucy said you were tired.”
“I was. It’s been a busy couple of days.” She contemplated sharing what she’d done the night before, but for some reason, she just couldn’t find the words.
“It has been, and it’s not over yet for me, with meetings all this week.” Julian took a sip of his coffee. “Were you planning to stick around and do some sightseeing?”
Kiara didn’t even have to think about her response. She shook her head. “I miss home.”
“Is it because of what happened last night?”
“Last night just showed me that I don’t really know how to move in your world.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” Julian said. “And just because someone says you don’t belong, that doesn’t mean they’re right.”
“What do you mean?”
“How well do you think Elizabeth fit in when my dad first married her? She was a nanny. I’m pretty sure if you asked her, she’d tell you that she wasn’t welcomed with open arms either. My mom still had friends in this world who likely made Elizabeth’s life miserable.”
“But she seems so at ease now,” Kiara said, remembering how elegant and graceful Elizabeth had been the previous evening. “A natural.”
“She’s paid her dues,” Julian said. “But also, my dad’s wealth helped. And that will be the case for you as well. Emilia will pay a price for what she said to you.”
Kiara lowered the forkful of waffle she’d been about to eat. “What?”
“She had no right to say the things she did to you. For some dumb reason, she thought she was doing us a favor or something, acting like she knew things that she didn’t.”
“She seemed very confident.”
Julian gave a shake of his head. “Only because she really knows nothing about our family. And even if she knows me, she doesn’t know my dad at all. Attacking a member of his family will never lead to anything good.”
Kiara wanted to say she wasn’t part of the family, but technically, she was. For now.
“She wasn’t completely off the mark though,” Kiara said. “She correctly determined why we’d gotten married.”
“Yes, but she also claimed that you were in love with me, so she doesn’t know everything. Though I’m not sure why she thought that.”
“I’m pretty sure I know,” Kiara said, figuring she might as well be upfront about it rather than pretend like she had no clue. Denying knowledge might make Julian think it was true… and she couldn’t have that.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “So why did she think that?”
Kiara took a sip of her coffee before responding. “She told me that I was so lucky that you’d married me, because of how handsome you are.”
“Okay?”
