Nine Rejected Marriages, I Wed My Ex's Rival novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Second Rule

Weston was in the kitchen when she came in, with his sleeves rolled up and a pan on the stove.

He turned and saw her face, and he turned the burner off.

Claire set her phone on the counter between them with the headline up.

"At noon," she said.

"I was going to tell you tonight."

"You kissed me on the forehead at four o'clock."

"Claire."

"You told me everything. At four in the morning, with your hand on mine, you said everything from now on."

He did not look away, and she gave him that.

"My mother called me Monday," he said. "Thurston's lenders are due in sixty days, and Preston can't pay them. If I hold the loans, the company can't be sold off from under him or the people in that building."

"So you took the seat."

"The seat came with the loans. I didn't want it. I took it so Thurston couldn't hand the company to somebody worse."

"Three days ago you stood on a stage and said you didn't want his chair."

"This isn't his chair. It's paper I bought with my own money."

"It's a Vanderveer seat, Weston. You sit in it."

"For a while."

"Why didn't you say so last night?"

He was quiet.

"Because you'd have looked at me the way you're looking at me now."

"How am I looking at you?"

"Like I'm Thurston."

It landed.

She had not known it was in her face until he said it.

"That's not fair."

"It isn't," said Weston. "But you asked."

She crossed to the window, and the lights of the city jumped in the glass.

"I made one rule that mattered," she said. "No lies."

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend