Chapter 38

Chapter 38

I heard Andrew’s footsteps echoing down the hall. I scrambled off the floor and back onto the couch, while trying to wipe my cheeks and eyes. I knew that my mascara had run, but I hoped that he would figure that it was from the

rain.

“One nice, warm towel, fresh out of the dryer,” Andrew announced as he entered the sitting room.

I received the towel with a gracious smile.

“Thank you,” I said, though my voice sounded small.

I started drying my hair, praying that Andrew hadn’t noticed the change in my voice. Of course, I wasn’t that lucky.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No, not at all. Why?”

“You seem different than when I left. Have you been crying?”

I focused on rubbing my hair with the towel so that I wouldn’t have to look Andrew in the eye. I wished that I had asked for a brush or a comb, too, but I didn’t want to impose.

“No, I haven’t.”

“You’re lying.”

It was a statement, not a question.

“What makes you so sure of that?”

Because I know. Why were you crying?”

Once again, I decided on telling a half-truth. Maybe it would actually work this time.

It’s just this entire situation. It’s so overwhelming, and I’m having a hard time

jo terms with it

back up as Andrew sat beside me on the couch.

Chapter 38

“I understand what you’re going through.”

“Really? Have you ever had everything that you’ve ever worked for ripped out from underneath you, forcing you to start all over again, and just when you think that you’re almost back to normalcy, have most of that ripped out from under you, too?”

I could feel Andrew stiffen next to me. I flinched when I realized how unfair a question that was. After all, the man had lost three Lunas under mysterious. circumstances; he had certainly suffered a lot.

I really needed to watch what I said.

“I think I have a good idea of what it feels like, or at least something close to it,” he said, his voice low but firm. “I have lost a lot in my life, Crystal, just like you. I think we can help each other.”

I looked up at Andrew and stared into his eyes. I felt a tugging in my stomach, a pull towards Andrew that I could not quite explain. It was warm and gentle and pleasant, but also urgent and hungry.

“Seduce him,” Susan urged me.

“What?”

“Seduce him. Become Bob’s stepmother.”

“Why? Why are you suddenly-”

“It will punish Bob most. Imagine how much it will torture him for you to outrank him. He deserves it, after everything that he has put you through.”

“But what about Andrew? Does he deserve that?”

“A means to an end.”

didn’t want to agree with Susan in this case, but she was right about a couple of things: Bob needed to pay for what he had done to me, and becoming his eprapther was the best way to do it. I didn’t want to use Andrew to do it—I ought that I might truly be falling in love with him-but I didn’t see any

Gray Maybe, in the end, I could get everything that I wanted.

my hand on Andrew’s thigh. He stared at it but did not try to

10:38 Tue, 2 Jan M-

Chapter 38

“How?” I asked, my voice low and husky. “How can we help each other?”

Andrew’s eyes lifted to meet mine again. Subconsciously, I licked my l*ps and leaned toward him. My hand slid up his thigh.

“I think there are a few ways,” he said, his voice as low and husky as mine.

He moved closer to me. One hand grabbed mine, and the other tucked at strand of my semi-dry hair behind my ear. His fingers tickled me as they ran along my jawline and up my chin, tilting my head up towards his.

He leaned in to k*ss me but stopped short. His brows scrunched, as though he were focusing on something, and then the look in his eyes changed from lust to something else…pity, perhaps. Tears pr icked the edges of my eyes from seeing it alone.

“Is something wrong?” I whispered.

“No,” he said before clearing his throat. “I was only thinking about how I could help you.”

“What about how I can help you?”

I tried to move my hand towards his cr otch, but Andrew would not release it.

“Don’t worry about that right now. Let’s focus on you.”

I shifted away from him.

“If you’re thinking about lending me money-”

“No, that wasn’t what I had in mind.”

Then what are you talking about?”

I want you to stay here, at my mansion.”

For how long?”

For however long is needed. And I want to offer you some extra

ployment

led at the bottom of my dress nervously.

ce to stay until I can find an apartment i can f

Chapter 38

really can’t take on too much extra work with everything going on at Ever After Weddings-”

“That’s why it will all only be temporary. One of my housekeepers is currently on vacation for a month-”

Wow, a month-long vacation! I thought. That’s some vacation plan.

-and you can get her work done at night, after you come home from Ever After Weddings, and on the weekends. It will only be part-time. I promise, the compensation is fair, and it might even help you get a new apartment sooner.”

“I don’t know…”

“Why? What’s holding you back?”

I hesitated. I couldn’t tell him the truth about what Lisa and Bob had done, but if what he said at the hospital was any indication, he seemed to have some sort of idea of what was going on. Maybe I could tell him a little or at least allude to it…

“I don’t think that Lisa likes me,” I said, “and with Bob living here, it would be very awkward…”

“I don’t want you to worry about that-”

“How can I not worry about that? She’s your daughter, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. And Bob, well, he’s…”

“He’s what?”

I suddenly realized that I had never said this out loud to Andrew before. How would he view me after finding this out, especially considering that I was his daughter’s wedding planner? Would it change how he felt about me?

“He’s my ex, I whispered.

you’ve been able to work with him and my daughter all this time?”

‘s my job. I have to be professional.”

you will be fine. If not, you can always bring your

that they are resolved fairly

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when I mentioned that Bob was my ex, not in anger, not in frustration, nothing. It made me wonder…

I turned my head to face him. Our eyes

met.

“99.999%,” Susan said, confirming that Andrew’s feelings for me had not changed.

I felt relieved, and yet I was still not sure about Andrew’s proposal.

“It would be wonderful if you could ensure that, but I’m still not sure-

“I insist, and I am the Alpha King. I get what I want.”