Page 37
Her question stopped every conversation inside the library.
I stood with my back to her, one hand resting against the carved wooden door. The ache beneath my ribs sharpened, carrying every night I’d spent learning how to live without turning around when I heard her voice.
When I finally faced her, Charm hadn’t moved. Aura stood behind her with the clipboard lowered at her side. Easton and Rider had gone silent near the whiskey, while Cade watched me with the careful expression of a man who knew this weekend had just become more complicated than any seating chart could prepare him for.
Briggs stood closest to me like always where Charm was concerned.
I looked at Charm first, then at the friends gathered between us. “They’re the only reason we are.”
The answer hit her. I watched it enter her face and refused to take it back when I turned to Briggs. “Voy a estar en el bar.”
His mouth tightened before he nodded. “Está bien, hermano.”
I opened the door and left before the distance and longing unraveled me completely.
4
Charm
The library door closed behind Ryan, and every person inside the room turned toward me as though I’d been struck by something they couldn’t see.
I hadn’t.
His answer hurt, but pain no longer possessed the authority to decide what happened next.
I adjusted the garment bag over my arm and looked toward the castle employee still waiting beside the dress form. She had developed the intensely professional expression of someone determined to pretend she hadn’t witnessed the reunion of two former lovers in the middle of a private wedding-party gathering.
“The dress form beside the windows is perfect,” I told her. “Thank you.”
She nodded quickly and positioned it near the longer table. Aura took the garment bag from me before I could stop her, draping it carefully over the table while Cade remained near the fireplace with the expression of a man already reconsidering every logistical choice that put Ryan and me inside the same castle.
Bliss would probably demand a complete account before dinner. I had no intention of giving her one. “Everyone stop looking at me like that,” I said.
Aura crossed the space first. “Like what?”
“Like you’re waiting for my nervous system to become a public event.”
“I’m checking whether you’re okay.”
“I’m disappointed that our first conversation lasted six words, but I’m fine.”
Cade lowered his glass. “I can talk to him.”
“No.”
“He promised me he would make an effort.”
“He did make an effort. Ryan came to the wedding, stood in the same room with me, and answered when I pushed him in front of everyone. I’m the one who turned it into a public conversation.”
“You asked a fair question,” Aura said.
“He gave me a fair answer.”
Briggs moved toward the door.
I stepped into his path. “You’ll leave him alone.”
“He shouldn’t have said that.”
