Page 27 of Perfect Pursuit

Thanks, witch. X

Fallon:

You’re welcome. X

“I think we’re all devastated, but we’ll all be okay.” At least, I hope we will be. This latest setback just detoured off the road to get there.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA

Truly? Is there any competition when it comes to best dressed couple for the Met Gala?

Let’s stop the fighting and admit Danielle Madison and her husband, Brendan Blake, win every year by default. It truly is much more mature that way.

End of.

—Moore You Want

“Now tell me you’re calling me just to share how much you’ve missed me,” are the first words out of my mouth when our call connects.

“No, I just needed a friend,” is Ethan’s deadpan reply.

“Oh.” His response deflates my excitement like a balloon that’s sustained a direct hit by a machete.

When I don’t say anymore, Ethan’s voice softens, “Fallon, you know I wish I was able to be with you every day. I want nothing more than to wrap you up in my arms, hold your body next to mine, touch your skin. I want to determine if what happened at the hospital means more.”

“Is it just sex?”

“No. I want to experience life through you, with you. It’s no longer enough to wait for your words through texts. We’ve been doing this back and forth for years and now and…”

His voice trails off, so I pick up where he left off. “And now?”

“Now, I crave to be where you are. Hold you at the end of a long day. Hear about what you found at the museum that fascinated you the most today. By the way, what unusual fact did you unearth about the Biltmore House today?” His voice softens as he quizzes me about the place I want to land my dream job.

I blurt out, “There are sixty-five fireplaces.”

Dead silence.

“And forty-three bathrooms.”

Suddenly a chuckle begins on the other end of the line. “Well, I suppose after making love to a lady of quality in front of a roaring fire, at least Mr. Vanderbilt had quick access to dispose of his sheaths.”

I burst into laughter at his quick charm and bawdiness. “Cute, Kensington.”

“See, now you’re getting with the program. I am cute. I remember my mama telling me so,” he announces haughtily. Just as quickly, his laughter evaporates.

Suddenly, I just want to hear him talk about the nebulous Melissa Kensington. Gently, I pry, “What was she like?”

“Who?”

“Your mother.”

“You mean Austyn’s never mentioned her?”

That’s when I drop him into a vortex of emotions. “Ethan, how could she when even what Paige knows about her is hearsay?” Paige—Ethan’s younger sister and Austyn’s mother—has no memories of her mother. How could she when her whole life she’d been told her mother died because she was born? All she knew was that her mother was beautiful and worshiped, and losing her had reduced their father to a mess of quivering toxicity.

But Austyn’s father surprised his family when he went into intensive therapy to sort his functional immorality out. Now, there’s a cautious acceptance by most of the Kensington’s. Judging by his undisguised anguish, Ethan’s not over his duplicity.

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