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GEORGIA

A week later, Alexei appears in my row on the plane, lifting his bag into the overhead bin. My gaze catches on his toned arms, muscles flexing with the movement.

“Hello,” I say, cool and disinterested, turning back to my work.

Coward, my brain whispers.

“Good morning, Hellfire.” He sits beside me, his big frame taking up a ridiculous amount of space. His knee bumps mine.

I focus on my work. He’s not looking at me, but I can feel his attention.

“You want to make out?” he asks, and against my will, I laugh.

“I’m working, you animal.”

He’s not supposed to be funny. He’s not supposed to be a good cook and buy me pretty things and say I like you or you’re cute .

“I think the term you used was beast .”

Telling Darcy he was a beast in bed at the team dinner feels like years ago. I press my lips together, trying not to smile at the irony of being right.

His knee bumps mine again. “Did you get the flowers?”

“Yes.” Yellow tulips—sunshine in your smile. “Thank you.”

I have that entire book memorized, I’ve flipped through it so many times.

My heart does that annoying pitter-patter thing. He likes me. There’s no excuse anymore, no logical way I can tell myself he’s just trying to make things look real. He’s nothing like Liam, either. At the awards dinner, he talked me and my accomplishments up. He worries about my safety.

When I see him get hurt, I feel sick, and when I sleepwalk, it’s to his bed. Forget about hiding from my feelings; they stare me down, challenging me.

I like him, too. I don’t want this to end. My chest aches, vulnerable and exposed. I think it might be different this time, but that scares me even more.

I can’t lose myself again. I can’t be left humiliated and empty when it’s over.

Just like at dinner with our friends, he takes my hand, pulling it into his lap, toying with my plain wedding ring, clinking his against mine, making me smile, turning down the volume on my worries.

Maybe I just shut up. Maybe I ignore the worries. Maybe I take a risk.

Maybe I just enjoy being married to Alexei.