Chapter 429
Madison
“When are you going back to Connecticut?” Alexander’s voice cut through the quiet.
I set the mug down carefully on the marble counter. “Maybe tomorrow. Why?”
“Nothing.” He moved closer, close enough that I caught his scent. Expensive cologne mixed with something else, some that was just him. “I want to have a relationship with you, Madison. Not just be Ethan’s father. I want us to try again.”
My breath caught. The words hung between us, heavy and impossible.
“I’m asking you on a date,” he continued when I didn’t respond. “A real one. Just you and me.”
I stared at him, searching his face for any sign this was manipulation or strategy. But his eyes held something raw, somet that looked dangerously close to hope.
“Alexander.” I picked up my mug again, needing something to hold. “You’re still engaged.”
“I’ll end it tomorrow.”
Tomorrow. Like breaking a five–year engagement was something you could just schedule between morning coffee and lur meetings.
I set down the mug carefully, my hands surprisingly steady. “You’ll end it tomorrow.”
“Yes.” No hesitation. No qualification. Just certainty.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” Alexander moved closer, close enough that I caught his scent again. “I should have ended it years ago. This engagement was never real, Madison. You know that.”
“It looked pretty real to me. The announcement, the parties, the perfect photos in every magazine.”
“Katherine and I haven’t even lived together. Haven’t set a date. Haven’t done any of the things people who actually love eac
other do.”
“That doesn’t mean you can just snap your fingers and make it disappear.”
“I’m not snapping my fingers. I’m making a choice.” His eyes held mine. “A choice I should have made a long time ago.”
I turned away, staring out at the city lights blurring together through the floor–to–ceiling windows. My reflection stared back pale and uncertain.
“I need to think about it.”
“Think about what?”
“About whether I believe you. Whether I can trust you to actually follow through.” I crossed my arms. “You say tomorrow like it’s simple. How exactly are you planning to end a five–year engagement in one day?”
“I’ll meet with her in the morning. And handle it properly.”
“Properly.” I laughed without humor. “Is there a proper way to break someone’s heart?”
“It won’t break her heart.” Alexander’s voice was quiet. “Katherine doesn’t love me. Not really. This will be a reliet for both of us
I wanted to belleve him. Wanted to trust that this wasn’t just another manipulation, another way to get what he wanted without actually changing anything.
Chapter 429
But five years of silence made trust impossible.
“I already told you I need time,” I said, my voice firm. “That hasn’t changed.”
“How much time?”
“However long it takes to believe you’re serious, so I can think clearly and figure out what I truly want.”
“What about Ethan?”
“That’s separate. You can meet him regularly. But me? I need distance.”
Silence stretched between us, heavy with everything we weren’t saying.
“Okay,” Alexander said finally.
“Okay?”
“I’ll give you time. Space. Whatever you need.” He turned to face me fully. “But Madison, I need you to understand somethi
“What?”
“I want this. Not just being Ethan’s father. I want you. I want us to try again.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Alexander stepped closer, his hand reaching toward my face before stopping mid–air. “I made mistakes. Terrible ones. I cho wrong, and I hurt you, and I can’t change any of that. What happened has happened. But I can promise you I won’t make thos mistakes again.”
“Promises are easy.”
“Then let me prove it.” His hand finally connected, fingers brushing against my cheek with devastating gentleness. “Let me show you I’m serious about this. About us.”
I should pull away. Should tell him to stop touching me, stop saying things that made my chest ache.
But I didn’t move.
His fingers brushed my cheek, warm and rough against my skin, and my brain short–circuited completely. Standing in Alexander Knight’s penthouse while he touched me like I was something precious and breakable was not on tonight’s agenda. Neither was the way my pulse hammered against my ribs, nor how my breath caught when his thumb traced along my jaw.
Any second now, he’d kiss me. I could see it in the way his eyes darkened, in how his gaze dropped to my lips. Part of me wante him to. The stupid part. The part that remembered exactly how his mouth tasted and how his hands felt on my skin, and everything we once shared.
But he didn’t kiss me.
Just kept touching my face like he was memorizing it, like five years hadn’t passed and I hadn’t built an entire life without hum. Why was I expecting him to kiss me anyway? That was ridiculous. We weren’t those people anymore. We had boundaries and complications, and a son sleeping in his guest room.
Except none of those very logical reasons stopped my heart from doing that annoying flutter thing
Alexander stood so close I could count his eyelashes if I wanted to. Which I didn’t. Definitely didn’t.
His hand was still on my face, thumb brushing my cheekbone in this gentle way that made my knees weak. I hated that Hated how my body remembered him even when my brain screamed to run.
“I’m not going to kiss you,” he said quietly.
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“Good. Because I don’t want you to.”
His lips curved slightly. “Liar.”
Heat flooded my face.
His hand dropped from my face, leaving cold air where warmth had been. “I meant what I said earlier. Think about trying again. About us.”
Us. The word felt foreign and familiar all at once.
“I don’t know what us even means anymore,” I admitted.
“Neither do I. But I want to find out.” He stepped back, creating distance that should have felt like relief but just made me colder “We were good together once. We could be again.”
“That was different. That was an arrangement.”
“Was it?” His eyes held mine. “Or was that just what we told ourselves because the truth was too complicated?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Had no idea what to say to that.
“Think about it,” Alexander said. “That’s all I’m asking. Just think about whether you want to try.”
“And if I decide I don’t?”
“Then I’ll respect that. But I’ll still be Ethan’s father. That doesn’t change.”
“I know.”
P
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
