Page 100 of The House Guest

“Iwouldprefer not to know. Because it’s hard for me.” My voice shook. “It was hard for me to see him with her.” I shut my eyes, realizing I’d admitted more than I intended.

“I’m sure...” She sighed. “And I won’t continue to bring this up. It’s just… I think he’s forcing himself to move on, and while that could be construed as a good thing, it also has the potential for disaster.”

“How seriousarethey?”

“She told me she’s falling in love with him. But he hasn’t mentioned the L word to her. And while she hasn’t moved in officially, she’s at the mansion a lot of the time. I could see this getting serious.”

That felt like a punch to the gut.Livwas living my former life.

“If there’s any chance of you pulling a runaway bride, I wanted you to know that if you wait too long, things are gonna be a lot more complicated,” Candace said. “I promise I’m not trying to stir up trouble. I just want to protect my friends. I still consider you one of them. To be clear, I’m not on anyone’s side here. I wouldn’t have dreamed of getting involved if I hadn’t seen that you liked and unliked the photo of them. That made me wonder if you haven’t fully gotten over him.”

I’dneverget over him.

She sighed. “I’m not gonna interfere anymore, and I’m not gonna tell anyone we had this conversation. What you do with this information is totally up to you.”

“Thank you for reaching out to me, Candace,” I said after a long pause. “I appreciate it.”

“I hope I haven’t overstepped.”

“No. I respect you for sharing what you think is important for me to know.”

“I also hope I haven’t scared you off and that you’ll want to keep in touch. I swear, we don’t have to talk about Dorian next time.”

“It’s all good,” I said, though if I knew what was good for me, I wouldn’t initiate any additional communication with her, even if that made me sad. There was no real way to separate Candace from Dorian.

“Well, I’m sure you have things to do,” she said. “So I’ll let you go.”

“It was good talking to you, Candace.”

“You, too, Primrose. Truly.”

After we hung up, I sat in a daze, the weight of the conversation heavy on my shoulders. I’d hoped to come out of that phone call feeling better, but it had only made me feel worse. Dorian was getting serious with that woman. What if he was falling in love? And more than that, why was I so invested if I wanted him to be happy? Why did this feel so utterly devastating? Did I expect to move on and marry Casey while Dorian pined for me alone at the mansion in perpetuity? Of course not. That would be the most selfish thing imaginable. I’d made my decision. I’d ended things with Dorian. And I had to come to terms with it.

The door opened. I jumped and turned to find Casey entering.

I sprang to my feet. “What are you doing home?”

“I decided to take the rest of the day off.” He dropped his bag. “Surprise!”

“You never do that.” I flashed my best fakesmile.

“I know. It just hit me today how much I miss out on because of work. I got ahead on my to-do list and told Jim I needed the afternoon off. I want to surprise Rosie at pickup.”

Running a shaky hand through my hair, I forced another smile. “She’s gonna love that.”

“Just her?” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. “I was hoping you’d be happy, too.”

“Of course I am.” I stiffened. “What do you want to do after we pick her up?”

“I was thinking we could get sandwiches from the deli and take them to the park. After, we can hit the zoo. We don’t use those season passes nearly enough.”

“That sounds like an amazing plan.”

Casey kissed me again. Immediately, I noticed his erection.

He whispered in my ear, “You think we can get a quick one in before we have to pick her up? I’m so freaking horny.”

My first instinct was to lie. “I just got my period.”