As always, the food was amazing and so was the wine, but the best part of the night was when he took me back to bed and made love to me all over again. I lay with my head on Harrison’s chest,listening to the steady beat of his heart and smiling whenever my ring caught the ambient light. He was fast asleep now, his chest rising and falling evenly, his hand that had been stroking absent circles on my skin now still.
Everything that had happened today still felt so impossible, but I knew it had been real because of the certainty that had lodged itself deep within my chest. Harrison and I were the real deal. The right thing. He was theone.
With hindsight being twenty-twenty and all, I’d realized that part of me had known since the very first time I’d seen him that he was my perfect match. The chemistry between us since the very beginning and the way we’d connected as soon as we’d had our first honest conversation should’ve clued me in.
Harrison Westwood was it for me, and now that we’d both fully embraced and accepted it, I was happier than I’d ever been. Feeling more settled than ever before too.
My eyes were just starting to drift shut when my phone chimed with an incoming text on the nightstand. I groaned softly, completely intent on ignoring it until another followed straight after. A quiet sigh worked its way out of me.
One text, I could’ve let go, but two? In such rapid succession? There was no way I’d fall asleep until I knew what that was about.
Slowly sitting up and detaching myself from him, I shifted carefully, reaching for the nightstand while trying my best to move as cautiously as possible. My fingers finally brushed against the smooth, hard surface of my screen and I picked up, unlocking it in the same motion.
Mom: We need to talk. Now.
Mom: This is serious, Aurelia.
I glanced over at Harrison, but he was still out cold. Even sleeping, he was so damn handsome that my chest squeezed as my gaze traced the sharp lines of his profile. The sheets weredraped around his hips, but in the low light filtering in through the windows, I still drank him in, in all his glory.
My heart skipped several beats and another smile spread my lips, but then I sent my mother a thumbs-up emoji in response and slipped out of bed. It was the last thing I felt like doing right then, but with a little luck, I could go deal with her and be back before he ever even knew I’d been gone.
CHAPTER 41
HARRISON
The sharp buzz of my phone cut through the dark, yanking me out of the best sleep I’d had in weeks. I fumbled for it on the nightstand, my heart suddenly pounding at the sight of her name on the screen.
“Aurelia?” My voice was rough with sleep, but I still glanced at her side of the bed, not really sure why she wasn’t there anymore. “Where are you?”
“Harrison—” Her voice broke, the sound of her crying filtering into my consciousness and hitting me like a fist to the chest. “We need to call it off. The wedding. I can’t do it.”
That sobered me instantly. Jolted into awareness, I sat bolt upright in bed, the sheets tangled around my waist. “What? No. Wait, what’s going on?”
She didn’t answer right away, sobbing over the line as if she was crying too hard to speak. Instantly, something in me snapped into overdrive. I jumped out of bed, pulling on jeans and the first shirt I touched, my phone wedged between my shoulder and ear.
“Tell me where you are,” I demanded, already searching for my keys even as I stumbled around, trying to get my foot into asneaker without even stopping to put on socks. “Did something happen? Are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt,” she whispered shakily between sobs, like even just saying the words hurt her. “Not physically, anyway.”
“Then what is it? Talk to me.”
Outside of the muffled sound of her crying, silence stretched between us and I felt like my heart might actually break in two if she didn’t answer. Finally, words came out of her, but they were soft and miserable. “I’m at my parents’ house.”
I didn’t hesitate or ask why. I didn’t stop to think, even if I was confused as fuck about why I’d fallen asleep next to her, both of us blissed out, naked as the day we’d been born, and now, a few hours later, she was gone and calling off the wedding. Instead, I was already out the door, heading for my car.
“It’s almost midnight,” I said, starting the engine with adrenaline surging through me. “I shouldn’t hit any traffic, but I’m coming to you. Don’t move. Don’t go anywhere. Just stay right there, Aurelia.”
I tore into the street, tires screeching against the wet pavement. Every beat of my heart chanted the same desperate mantra.Don’t let this be the end. Don’t let her mean it.
When I pulled up in front of her parents’ place, my pulse was hammering in my ears. Lights glowed from inside, but there was a weirdly ominous aura about the place. Maybe it was just because I knew what had drawn me here.
I didn’t even knock when I reached their front door. I just shoved it open and burst in like a man possessed. Aurelia sat on the couch in the formal lounge right off the front door, her hands twisting in her lap and eyes red and wet.
She looked up at me like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw herself into my arms or run the other way. My chest constricted at the sight of her, my entire being doused in confusion and disbelief. A small part of me was also definitelywondering if I’d really woken up at all or if this was just a nightmare.
“What happened?” I demanded as I strode toward her, my voice low and much too steady for the way my chest was burning.
Before she could answer me, Regina swept into the room like she’d been waiting to make her grand entrance. Her graying hair was perfect despite the hour, her smile attempting to hide the venom hidden under every inch of her apparent composure.
