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“There’s a reason I choseyou, Alexis. I hope, one day, you understand why.”
“Tell me now,” she pleads, her long lashes fluttering.
“I can’t articulate it yet.” I run my fingers through my hair. “It’s just this …feeling.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. Being around you is electric, like … youseeme.”
“Idosee you.” I stare at her, realizing the same current that’s tugged me under has its grip on her too.
Her cheeks heat. “I seeyoutoo, Easton.”
“I know. And there aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe that, whatever the fuck it is.”
As a kid who barely spoke, I spent a lot of time studying people and their behaviors. It’s one of the reasons I’m a good judge of character. I notice specific movements, the way someone speaks or the dart of their eyes. Everyone has a tell, it’s just finding it. Cheap words don’t win me over, it’s a person’s actions that do.
Lexi is kind and has a good heart, that much I know, and I trust her.
She flips back to the beginning, which includes countless boardrooms, plane rides, stacks of papers, and random coffee in different mugs and disposable cups. I look them over as she goes through each page again. Then, I notice the pattern in the sketches.
“What is it?” She searches my face, noticing my shift.
My 2D reality transformed into a 3D world of adventure the day I met her.
My scene blossoms with countless details, memories I never want to forget when we’re together. Nothing is left out.
“It’s one of my tells.” I flip through the notepad, and she leans over and focuses. “Watch the progression.”
“There,” she says. “This is when it changed.”
The Tower Penthouse.
“The day we met,” I confirm. “About ten years ago, I went through each notebook because I was curious if I could learn anything from it. When my drawings became more detailed, a major shift happened in my life. I’ve never been able to pinpoint it until now.”
“Easton, you’re about to get fake married. I thinkthisfits the bill for a life change.”
“Oh, it’s very much real,” I say.
But I know it’s deeper than that. It’s not the marriage; it’sher.
She studies me, her gaze lingering a few seconds too long before she looks away.
I focus on the mountains, too, trying to steady my racing heart. “I’ve worked beside my father for fifteen years. But I’m not the only one. A backup successor has been chosen if I can’t fulfill my grandfather’s wishes.”
“Weston?” she asks.
This makes me laugh. “I wish. He doesn’t want it. The man’s name is Derrick Petersen. He’s worked for the company for thirty years. My grandfather loved him. I can’t stand the fucker, and the feeling is mutual. He’s tried to ruin me on more than one occasion.”
“Why?”
“I’m the only person standing in the way of him taking over. I’m not sure if he’s aware of the marriage agreement in my family’s contract, he just knows he’ll be promoted if I don’t meet the requirements.”
She shakes her head.
“Weston told me this morning that rumors are spreading around the building that I’m on vacation with a woman. Two things that never happen, especially not in the same sentence. I’m telling you this because I need you to be prepared. The attacks will come. This man will do whatever he can to ensure he becomes CEO, and you’re theeasiesttarget.”
“Attacks?”
“Rumors. Lies. Scandals. You being targeted is theonlything I don’t like about this temporary marriage. Being with me will be challenging, and some days will be much harder than others.”