Page 409 of The Christmas Wife

"I can explain." I touch her shoulder, but she pulls away.

"Why would you do that?"

"There are cameras all over the floor," I murmur.

"Are you tracking anyone else?"

"Of course, not."

"So for all these days, you were watching me. While I was outside your office door and doing my work, you kept an eye on me?"

"I wanted to make sure you were safe."

"Safe?" She throws up her hands. "I'm in the office. What could happen to me?"

"Things aren’t always what they seem. You think you can trust someone, but really, they’re putting on a front."

A wrinkle appears between her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

I cut my palm through the air. "It doesn’t matter."

"Of course, it does. This is about you, Edward. About your past, about your experiences that hold you back. And you promised you’d share them with me."

"And I have."

"If by that, you mean, finally consummating our marriage properly?—"

"I came inside you. I haven’t allowed myself that release in two years. That doesn’t give you the right to plumb into my past."

"Does she know about it?"

"If you mean Ava, yes, she does. Baron told her."

She firms her lips. "So she knows things about you, which your own wife doesn’t."

"You don’t have to worry about her."

"I saw your face when you saw her; you were shocked." She swallows.

"Only because I wasn’t expecting to see her."

"What did she want?"

"She came to tell me to move on, but I told her it was a wasted trip."

"Oh." She blinks rapidly.

"I told her she needn’t have bothered to come."

"Whys that?"

"Because she’s my past. I expected it to hurt to see her, but it didn’t. Seeing her proved to me I'm over her."

"You are?" Her expression softens.

"Now, I realize you're the only woman for me. I knew that from the moment I saw you, but it’s not something that was easy for me to accept. For too long, I’ve been focused on keeping my emotions to myself. I didn't want to be involved with anyone else. I didn’t want anyone else in my life."

"You don’t want me in your life, either."

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