Page 19 of Wasted Grace

She looks almost offended. And yeah—I expected that. But I have to say it anyway.

“Listen... sex requires trust and attraction. Intimacy? Well, I think that requires both of those—andfeelings.”

And that’s the part that haunts me.

Because I haven’t felt anything real for anyone else in two years.

I’m still in love with a woman who’s gone.

A woman whose ghost seems more vivid than any living body I’ve seen since.

Even tonight—especially tonight—I felt her absence like a presence. Felt it pounding through me like a second heartbeat.

This was the first time I tried to force it away.

And now?

Now the guilt is clawing back tenfold.

I shouldn’t have let this happen. I should’ve shut it down. I should’ve told Vikram and Ishika that their matchmaking fantasies needed to stop.

That I wasn’t an available man. Not for Rohi. Not foranyone.

I should’ve never let Rohi believe I could be anything more than what I was: a shell of a man, with half a heart and a memory that won’t leave me the fuck alone.

Rohi lets out a disbelieving laugh. “Are you a therapist now?”

No. But I probably need one.

Because I can’t breathe through this panic.

“I’ve known you for years, Rohi. Our attraction? It’s always been there.” I shrug.

Yeah. That stupid attraction... it used to confuse me. Felt important.

Now I see it for what it was—me playing hero. Me trying to catch her every time she fell.

But attraction isn’t love.

Not when even the memory of someone else is enough to keep me emotionally tethered for a lifetime.

Not when the ghost of Greesha still has more power over me than Rohi ever could in the flesh.

So I can’t leave this door cracked open.

I need to slam it shut.

So I do what I know best. I push her away. Toward him. Toward someone who actually gives a shit. Because the man that I am—will never be able to give himself to anyone else but her ghost.

“But I don’t think that’s what you’re really looking for. I think... you’re trying to find out if he still wants you. Not just someone. Him. After whatever happened.”

That seems to reach her. Once she’s calmer, I gently tell her to head back to the bride’s side of the mansion.

I can’t have her here anymore. Not in this space. Not after what just happened.

But the second we step outside—

I see him.