“Don’t get used to it.”
His mouth almost curved again before he caught it, smoothing his expression back into neutral. “Truce?”
“Temporary ceasefire,” I said, shifting on my feet as I felt the remaining fight drain out of me. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Which one was that?”
“Why you look like life is out to get you today.”
The guards behind his eyes slid back into place immediately. “It’s just work. Good night, Kate.”
That was a complete lie, but I didn’t want to tell him what was going on with me either, so I couldn’t exactly push when I had zero intention of being honest with him myself. Instead, I just called out to him when he reached his door.
“I’ll be nice tomorrow.”
He glanced back then, something almost resembling amusement surfacing beneath his fatigue. “That probably took a lot for you to even consider.”
I straightened and reached for my own door again. “I believe that concludes today’s niceness quota. Good night, Nate.”
One of his dark blond eyebrows lifted, but I shut the door firmly between us before he could respond. Nate looked like he was quietly losing a war he hadn’t agreed to fight, but it was none of my business, and as much as my natural curiosity was a default setting I couldn’t turn off, I wouldn’t ask again.
The Westwoods had stuff going on that was way beyond my comprehension, and frankly, the less I knew about it, the better. I was just biding my time until I could go back to my regular life in New York.
The last thing I needed was to do something foolish like get tangled up with Nate.
CHAPTER 9
NATE
Emma’s email sat open on my laptop. She had completely ignored my request to meet up, just talking about regular stuff in her life. I’d read it three times already, tracing each sentence like there might be a hidden meaning tucked between her words, but there never was.
Emma wrote the way she seemed to live, honest, warm, and unguarded.My heart was thumping in my chest as I looked at the screen. I felt absolutely fucking terrible because,even though I’d never technically said anything untrue, I still felt like I’d been lying to her for all these years. They were lies by omission, but in my defense, they were things we’d never really talked about.
But they were massive, life-altering things. Like the fact that I would be getting married soon. There was no two ways about it anymore. It wasn’t just something that would eventually be happening someday. It was now inevitable that I’d be putting a ring on a finger that wasn’t Emma’s and I would probably be doing it before the end of the year.
Since I’d never told her what my family was like, there was no way that she’d see it coming. As far as she knew, I was entirely single—which was true if this email relationship didn’t count,but it wouldn’t be true for long—and there was no denying that I’d be blindsiding her completely with this.
Why hadn’t I just told her?
Emma talked about her life constantly, her apartment, her friends, and the tiny details that made her world feel real to me despite the distance. I’d only ever given her pieces of mine. Work. Hobbies. Thoughts. Never so much as a word about the strange familial obligations I was expected to honor.
Mostly because saying it out loud would’ve made it real to her too, and I almost certainly would have lost her earlier. Now, however, my silence meant that continuing whatever this was between us was cruel.
My life could be changing rapidly. Against my will, sure, but that wouldn’t matter when I finally told her the truth. I just wanted to do it in person. Was that so crazy? Probably.
My phone buzzed across the desk, dragging me back to reality. Alex’s name flashed across the screen and I sighed but reached for the device. “Yeah?”
“Jane and I are already at Dad’s,” he said without preamble. “Are you coming over early so we can go over the plan?”
I stared at Emma’s email one more time before closing the laptop. “No.”
There was a brief pause. “No?”
“I’ll get there when it’s necessary for me to be there.”
“Are you sure that’s smart? We need be aligned about what to do if tonight gets complicated.”
I stood and grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair. “Kate won’t keep being nice long enough for any strategy we come up with to matter. And if this bid gets messy, her father’s support won’t hinge on some rehearsed speech. It’ll depend on her.”
