Page 182 of Scandalous Contract

“Stefanie, I...”Shit. “I knew you were concerned about my age, so I said I was twenty-nine already. But it doesn’t matter. I mean, I’m twenty-nine. It changes nothing.”

“It means I’m not ten years older than you. I’m eleven years older than you, Julian!” she shouted, hands shaking. “I’ll be forty soon.”

“It’s just one more year...” I started.

“Get out.”

“I didn’t lie. I just...”

“Youlied,” she repeated, eyes glossy with unshed tears. “Youlied, Julian.”

I stood, reaching for her. “Stef...”

“Don’t,” she snapped, stepping back, chest heaving. “Just get your shit and get out of my damn house.”

I stood there, bare-chested, frozen, watching the woman I loved fall apart. I wanted to fix it. I wanted to take her into my arms and make her understand I hadn’t meant to hurt her. It was just one year. But she’d already turned her back.

“Don’t make me ask again,” she whispered.

Fuck. I dressed in silence, realizing I’d only made things worse and made the bridge between us even longer.

“I love you more today than I did yesterday,” I told her. “And I’ll love you more tomorrow than I do today. My love for you will only grow stronger whether we’re together or apart. I can’t turn it off, Stefanie. I can’t make it go away. It’s here to stay. And I’m not letting you go. You need space right now because you’re upset. And you have every right to be. I lied. And I’m sorry. I had plenty of chances to come clean, and I didn’t. I wanted to wait until you said you loved me back. I’m still waiting for you to say those words because I know you feel them. I see it in your eyes. I feel it in your touch. I’ll leave. But I’m coming home soon. You are mine, Stefanie Adams. So don’t think for a second that my leaving means I’m letting you go. I’d die before that happened.”

I turned and left her bedroom. Tears trailed down my cheeks as I walked to the front door. She’d already turned the alarm off. She was ready for me to go. Fuck! I left her house, leaving my heart behind. I’d be back to get it.

For now, she could hold on to it for me.

***

AFEW WEEKS LATER...

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ICOULDN’T BE THEREwith her. I couldn’t watch her from the bear cam. But at least I could watch her house from the camera I’d posted on her light pole. I told myself this wasn’t an obsession. This wasn’t some form of insanity.

It was protection. Strategy. Preventative maintenance, if you will. I was just a man doing what needed to be done to protect the woman he loved. So yeah, I watched. Every night, I tapped into her feed from my laptop.

I sat there with my drink, monitoring her front porch and her driveway. Making sure no strange men showed up. Making sureHudsondidn’t show up. I was still looking for that motherfucker.

He’d vanished, and that didn’t sit right with me. There hadn’t been one sighting of the bitch. But I knew he was too obsessed with Stefanie to just let her go. So, I watched her house and I waited. If he showed up, I’d be ready.

Tonight, the street was empty, like all the other nights so far. The porch light flickered like it had been doing for days. The damn bulb needed replacing. I wanted to do it. But if I went over there, I wouldn’t be able to stop at just changing the bulb.

I’d need to see her. If she didn’t change the damn thing by Monday, I was going over there. I was about to pour another glass when I caught movement outside her house. A car with lights off was creeping toward Stefanie’s house.

It stopped at the curb, and the driver’s side door opened. A man stepped out wearing a dark hoodie and dark jeans, his shoulders hunched, his walk stiff as he approached her house. Fuck! I grabbed my keys and phone.

I called Stefanie. She didn’t answer. I tried again. Still nothing. Fuck! This wasn’t the time for her to be ignoring me.

“Pick up the phone,” I muttered under my breath as I slid into my car.

I pulled up the camera feed on my phone just as the man walked straight up to her front door and stood there, as still as a damn statue. I sped down the road, watching him, eyes darting from the road to my phone, then back to the road.

For a long time, he just stood there, hands in his pockets, not making a move. What the fuck did he want? I called Stefanie again. Still no answer.Fuck!Then he moved around the side of the house. My stomach dropped as he disappeared around the back.

“Fuck,” I growled, slamming my palm against the steering wheel.

I felt useless as hell. I couldn’t see what he was doing back there. If he broke in... if he hurt her...shit! I called her phone again. This time, when she didn’t answer, I left a voicemail.