I scoffed softly. “Of course.”
“You know how our world works,” he said, placing a tile on the board. “When you have too much money and no real issues, being in everyone else’s lives becomes a pastime.”
I stared at the board. At his hands and the way his fingers were large but his movements so precise, like he was incapable of doing anything carelessly.
“How’d you manage to become what you are today?” I asked. “The CEO. The big brother they all lean on and respect?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he hesitated, then spelled out a word.
LOVE.
It wasn’t worth many points. Hardly any at all, actually.
“The CEO? Dumb luck made me that,” he said. “It was a fluke.”
I snorted. “You don’t strike me as a fluke.”
“Maybe not, but the fact I was born first was.” He finally looked up, meeting my eyes with a glint of determination in those dark green depths of his. “Either way, there’s one thing I know for sure and it still stands. It always will. Nobody messes with the Westwoods and gets away with it, and that includes you now.”
Although I knew it was only true in technical terms, it still settled something in my chest to know he really did think of me as family now. If nothing else, for as long as we were married, he’d proven that he would protect me.
That mattered, the knowledge coating my insides like a balm. After years of doing the protecting, I wasn’t mad about having someone watchmyback for a change.
We kept playing, and at some point, between his careful, thoughtful turns and my increasingly ruthless ones, I found myself smiling without effort. Teasing him when he complained about vowels. Watching the way his eyebrows furrowed like it was a personal betrayal when I dropped a triple-word score.
“You’re enjoying this far too much,” he said.
“What can I say?” I smirked. “I’m competitive.”
That was an understatement, but by the end of the game, I’d absolutely mopped the floor with him. He stared at the board, then at me, then leaned back with a low laugh. “I married a monster.”
“Careful,” I said sweetly. “I might just challenge you to a rematch.”
He laughed again, his hand still warm on my thigh and his presence steady beside me. As we refilled our glasses and settled back in for another game, just talking about nothing serious, I realized that the weight I’d carried for so long suddenly felt shared.
It was quietly terrifying, but despite having had some old wounds sliced open, I hadn’t just survived our night together. I’d actually really enjoyed it, and I honestly wasn’t ready for it to end just yet.
CHAPTER 18
ALEX
It was almost nine in the morning when I heard my bedroom door open, just a soft scrape of wood followed by the unmistakable sound of someone cautiously navigating unfamiliar stairs. I looked up from the kitchen island, espresso already brewing, and watched Jane stumble down the last few steps like gravity wasn’t completely on her just side yet.
She turned the corner into the kitchen and I watched her quietly, honestly a little transfixed by the way she looked right now. This was Jane at her rawest—barefoot, her hair a riot of golden waves going in every possible direction, last night’s makeup smudged under her eyes.
She blinked like she wasn’t sure she was fully awake yet, then looked right at me with confusion tightening her beautiful features. I smirked, unable to stop my lips from completing the movement even though I had a feeling I should probably just smile right now.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” I said. “Sleep well?”
An immediate, deep blush crept up her neck and seeing it did things to me I didn’t want to unpack at nine in the morning. She cleared her throat, her unease etched into every line of her face. “Uh, hi.”
Her gaze flicked away from mine like she was searching for a clue she was missing. I turned back to the machine, fixed her coffee, and handed it over, all without saying another word.
She accepted it with a faint smile, but her brow was still knitted and she wouldn’t quite meet my gaze. I let out a long exhale, raking my hands through my hair as I realized her memories of last night were probably hazy—and she’d woken up in my bed.
It didn’t take much to figure out what she was so worried about. “No, we didn’t have sex.”
Blinking hard and fast, her lips parted before she finally jerked her gaze to mine, those blue eyes swirling with surprise. “What?”
