“I told Will about Emma before I knew that they were the same person. Some shit happened and I went to him about it,” I said. “After we got married, he came to check that my head was on straight. We met in the lounge downstairs. Someone must’ve overheard us.”
Alex grimaced. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
He exhaled slowly, shifting back into CEO mode in an instant despite supposedly being on leave. “You and Kate need to go talk to Hinds. In person. Before this spirals any further. Like, get on a plane ASAP, Nate. We can’t leave it any longer.”
I nodded, knowing he was right but neglecting to mention that my wife wasn’t even talking to me right now. The guy had enough on his plate, and besides, I wasn’t letting Kate go without a fight.
With or without the deal. Regardless of Abram or what he thought. Nothing was going to stop me from clearing this up with her once and for all.
Alex and I hammered out a few logistical matters. Then Jane called him from upstairs and I ducked out, not needing to interrupt them more than I already had. When I got back to our floor, I went straight back to Kate’s door and knocked again.
“Katie?” I said softly. “We really need to talk.”
There was still no immediate answer, but I waited again. Same as before. Except this time, the lock finally clicked and the door opened a few inches. Kate stood on the other side, her expression blank and tired, her face free of any makeup. She also had an orange cat tucked into one arm like it belonged there.
She scratched absently under its chin with her free hand, but the cat was looking at me, and it hissed as soon as I looked into its eyes. I frowned. “I didn’t know you had a cat.”
“I don’t,” she said, her voice as flat as her expressionless face.
I glanced back down at the cat.I’m definitely not imagining things or hallucinating. It’s real.“But?—”
“What do you want, Nate?”
My heart lurched into my throat, which was ridiculous. She was my wife. My actual, legal wife, on paper and everything.
And yet, standing there in the dim light of the hallway, with that orange menace glaring at me like I’d personally ensured the ill treatment of his ancestors, I felt like a man waiting for a verdict. A life sentence or a pardon.
I dragged in a breath that didn’t feel nearly big enough and tried to ignore the way my hands wanted to curl into fists just to give them something to do. “I came to talk. I don’t want to fight, Kate.”
She didn’t answer, just continued scratching the cat under the chin. The little bastard leaned into her hand, purring now like hehadn’tjust tried to flay me alive with his eyes a minute ago.
I swallowed hard, lifting my gaze back to hers. While I could’ve done without the cat being here, she seemed to be enjoying its company. Besides, if I didn’t say it now, I might never get the chance to actually tell her.
“I would have chosen you,” I said. The words felt too small for something that big, but they were the only ones I had. “I’m choosing you now, Kate, and I will choose you forever if you’ll letme, but right now, our forever is going to be marred by our own secrets if we don’t do something to stop your godfather from backing out of our contract.”
My heart was pounding and my palms were suddenly sweaty, but she just kept scratching that damn cat. I took a step closer and it hissed again, but I ignored it. There was a faint shimmer of tears in her eyes now, and that savage could tear me to shreds, but I wasn’t staying away from her when she was this upset.
“Everyone I know and trust has cautioned that marriage isn’t easy,” I said. “But, Kate, sayingI doto you was the easiest decision I’ve ever made.”
I took another step closer, and even the fucking cat seemed to realize it needed to keep its mouth shut and its opinions to itself. Staring into those whiskey-hazel eyes, all I wanted was to reach for her, but I kept my hands firmly by my side.
“I won’t let someone else ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I said. “Unlessyoutell me that this is done.” My chest felt tight enough to crack open, but I still said one more thing she absolutely needed to know. “Your voice is the only one that matters.”
The hallway seemed impossibly quiet after all that, like the whole world had stopped to listen for her answer. Finally, she sighed, quiet for just another beat. “Why didn’t you say any of this before?”
“Because I thought you knew, Kate. All of this came out of left field after we landed. I get that, but I meant what I said to you at the lake house. I love you, inside and out, and if Emma had been someone else, Istillwould’ve loved you. I still would’ve chosenyou. I went there that day to choose you, and I would’ve gone through with it, even if I have no way of proving that now.”
Kate stared back at me for a very long, protracted minute before she lowered her face and pressed a soft kiss to the cat’s head. For a second, I thought she might send me away. Thatshe’d thank me for my honesty, tell me it was too late, and close the door.
That would be it, the shortest marriage in recorded history, and it would be entirely my own fault, but then she looked up and smiled. It was small and shaky, the tears that been in her eyes finally spilling over, but it was there.
“Come on in,” she said softly.
I didn’t realize how tightly wound I’d been until the door swung wider and I could breathe again. I inhaled deeply as I stepped inside, the relief dizzying.
Kate shifted the cat in her arms as she walked to the window, cracking it open just enough to let in a thread of cool night air. “He’s not my cat, by the way. He must live in one of the lower apartments. He’s been coming and going.”
