“Of course, we can’t say for sure since their face is covered, but some of us felt that it sure did appear to be a similar build and height as you, actually.”
Sweat dots my hairline along the back of my neck as mymind tries to make sense of what they’re implying. “I don’t…”
“Sure you do, Lily,” Barrington patronizes.
Usually, I hate being called Mrs. Bennett because it reminds me of Blake, but Barrington using my first name has my skin crawling.
He continues. “It’s mighty convenient to throw suspicion off you if someone tried to break into your house, don’t you think?”
I press my lips together as I try to slow my breathing. “I didn’t…” I trail off, not wanting to say any more without Chris by my side.
Wilcox slaps his hands on his thighs before standing. “Well, that was about it for us today. Have a good rest of your day.”
I barely register them leaving my office. All I can focus on is the whooshing in my ears. I’m not sure how much time passes before Anna pops her head into my office, eyeing me with apprehension. Probably worried about me losing it.
“Lily, are you okay? Should I move your next meeting? It starts in ten minutes,” Anna calls out softly.
Shaking my head, I finally find my voice. “No. No, I’m okay. I’ll be ready.”
Anna doesn’t look convinced, but she nods and retreats to her desk. I grab my water bottle and take a long sip, letting the cool liquid settle my stomach.
Inhaling a deep breath, I do what I’ve become a master of—putting on a mask and pretending everything is fine.
By the time I get to Chris’s, my emotions are like a live wire—the slightest touch and it’s over.
When I pulled into the garage, his car was already parked in his assigned spot. All through the elevator ride and short walk down the hall, I keep my façade in place.
Opening his door and stepping inside, my heart stutters. Chris is sitting at the island, his laptop open in front of him, and he has reading glasses propped at the end of his nose. Hank’s curled up on the barstool next to him. When the door closes behind me, Hank jumps down with a meow in greeting, and Chris’s head pops up. He whips the glasses off and tosses them down next to his laptop.
“Lily, what’s wrong?” The stool screeches across the floor as he stands. Rushing over to me, he grips my shoulders. I feel everything starting to slip under his intense examination. His hands run up over my shoulders and cup my cheeks, tilting my face to look into his eyes. “Lily, I need you to tell me what’s wrong.”
My bottom lip starts to tremble. Panic that I’m not able to keep it all together makes the emotions flood to the surface even faster. Pressing my fingers to my lips, tears wet my cheeks.
With a grunt, Chris wraps one arm around my shoulders and buries his fingers in my hair. I’m pulled against his chest, and his fingers caress my scalp. I slide the arm not trapped between us around his waist and hold on.
My body quakes as sobs overtake me, and I lose all semblance of control. When he hugs me harder, I inhale the cologne I’ve come to love.
His chin rests on top of my head as he gently rocks us back and forth as if he’s soothing a crying baby. Which, I suppose, is fitting right now.
“I want nothing more than to help you,” he murmurs, so low that if I weren’t chest to chest with him, I might not have heard it. “Come on.”
He doesn’t release me, but he turns us so I’m tucked into his side, leading me over to the couch. Carefully, he lowers us both onto it, still keeping me tight to him so I’m tuckedunder his arm with my chest to his side. My hand rests on his chest while his hand goes to my waist. Hank joins us and tucks in on the other side of me.
And then I cry some more.
Harder than I think I’ve cried since my mom died when I was twenty. I cry for the version of me that I lost so many years ago when I first met Blake. I cry for the marriage that I should’ve left years ago, but was too scared to do it. I cry because I wish this weren’t my life right now, because I want something simpler and carefree.
And most prominently, I cry because I’m afraid of what my future holds. Especially after the last few days with Chris. Our relationship feels different. Our connection continues to grow. I’m so angry that I would finally find the kind of attraction to someone that I’ve only read about in books, and that I’m in danger of being ripped away from it. All because the man who controlled my life for years was an awful human being.
My tears start to subside, and I’m left with an occasional whimper as the remaining emotions slowly simmer away. All the while, Chris’s hands trail up and down my back and arm, and he murmurs soothing words against the top of my head.
I’m exhausted by the time I’m done, and my eyes flutter closed, my cheek still resting on his muscular chest. A soft purring from Hank soothes me. Despite the heaviness that the onslaught of emotions left in my chest, this moment with Chris and sweet Hank brings a comfort that helps lighten some of it, even as I’m left wrung out and exhausted.
“Lily, I think we need to talk about what the hell happened,” Chris whispers into my hair. “I know I haven’t known you long, but I’ve never seen you like that.”
The tip of my finger traces the edges of a button on his shirt as I try to form the sentences to explain everything that happened that got us here. I decide to go with the most recent. “The detectives showed up at my work today.”
Chris’s hands freeze, and his chest stops moving under my head. After a moment, he slowly releases his breath, and I continue. “They said that they were told about the attempted break-in and that the person in the video looked like my build.”
