Page 41 of Trapped with the Ice Queen

Vivienne folded her arms, more out of habit than defensiveness. “About what?”

“About everything.” Alexmet her gaze, her own dark eyes brimming with emotion. “About pushing you away, about thinking this”—she gestured between them—“couldn’t work. I was scared. I am scared. But losing you? It’s worse than anything I could imagine.”

Vivienne’s heart pounded, each word striking a chord she’d tried to silence. But the wounds were still raw, and she wasn’t ready to let them heal so easily.

“You hurt me, Alex.”

“I know.” Alex’s voice cracked, and she dropped the pack to the floor, taking another step closer. “And I’m sorry. For everything. I thought I was protecting both of us, but I was wrong. I don’t want to protect myself from you. I want to be with you, Vivienne. No matter where, no matter how.”

The weight of Alex’s confession settled between them, fragile and heavy. She took a shaky breath, her fingers curling into her palms. “You think it’s that easy? That showing up here and saying this fixes what happened? What you said?”

“No.” Alex shook her head, her expression raw. “I don’t expect this to fix anything.But I needed to try. I needed you to know how I feel, even if it’s too late.”

Vivienne stared at her, her defenses wavering. There was no script for this moment, no prepared answer. All she had was the truth of her own heart, still bruised but beating wildly for the woman standing before her.

It wasn’t fair, Vivienne thought. How Alex could stand there, raw and unguarded, offering up pieces of her heart Vivienne had spent weeks trying to forget. The sight of her was like light spilling into a room Vivienne hadn’t realized was dark. The ache that had settled in her chest since the night Alex left flared up again, but this time, it wasn’t just pain—it was need. The need for the person who had made her laugh and taught her to let go. She wanted to reject it all, to cling to her anger, but that old defense was slipping, crumbling.

She thought of the woman she had been before—driven, exacting, and untouchable. That woman would have dismissed Alex Carter without hesitation, locking her feelings away behind the fortress of her ambition. But that fortress hadcrumbled, stone by stone, during those days in the mountains. Alex had done more than hurt her; she had forced her to see the parts of herself she’d been too afraid to confront.

“Why now?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Because being without you was unbearable,” Alex said, stepping even closer, her presence as grounding as the earth beneath them. “Because I love you, Vivi. And if there’s any part of you that feels the same, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.”

Vivienne’s office felt different now, the sterile coldness of the past few weeks receding, replaced by a softness in the air. The tension between them, that heavy, unspoken thing that had been present since Alex’s sudden appearance, had started to ease, replaced by the tentative beginnings of something new.

They sat across from one another at Vivienne’s desk, close but not quite touching, the space between them filled with the cautious hope of what could be. The shiny glass of the desk reflected their images, two women fromentirely different worlds, yet here, in this moment, trying to make sense of a future neither had expected.

Vivienne's fingers rested lightly on the edge of her computer, the rhythm of the city outside faintly echoing in her mind. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this weightless, this free.

The fog of the past few weeks—the arguments, the distance, the unsaid words—had begun to lift, but she knew better than to believe it was gone completely. The future was still uncertain, the unknown vast and daunting, but for the first time, Vivienne wasn’t afraid of it. She looked at Alex, the woman who had torn apart her carefully built walls and made her question everything she thought she knew about herself.

Alex caught her gaze, and Vivienne could see the vulnerability in her eyes, the same vulnerability she’d seen in the mountains when Alex had let her in, despite her own reservations. She hadn’t expected to feel this—this mixture of trust, relief, and something deeper, something raw. It was messy, it was uncertain, and it was everything Vivienne had been running from for so long.

“So, how does this work?” Vivienne’s voice broke the silence, steady but uncertain, as she broke eye contact and looked at the papers scattered across her desk. The weight of the question hung between them, too big to ignore. “You’re in the mountains, and I’m here. How do we make that work?”

Alex shifted in her seat, her eyes soft but determined. “I don’t know yet. But I’m ready to figure it out.” She paused, her voice taking on a slightly lighter tone. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m not asking for anything perfect.”

Vivienne nodded, her lips pressing together in a thoughtful line. “Neither am I,” she admitted, looking down at her hands. She felt the tension in her shoulders begin to loosen. “I’m just...not sure how we fit into each other’s worlds. You have your life there. Your peace. Your freedom.” Her gaze flicked back to Alex. “And I’ve spent so long building this life, my identity here.”

Alex’s smile was small but genuine. “I get that. I don’t expect you to leave it all behind for me.”

Vivienne’s chest tightened at her words, a flicker of the woman she’d been before, the one who had never been afraid to walk awayfrom something that didn’t serve her, but now she couldn’t shake the feeling that walking away from Alex would cost her more than she was willing to pay. She met Alex’s gaze again, her voice quiet but firm. “But I can’t keep running from everything, either. From you. From...this.”

Alex’s eyes softened. “You don’t have to. We don’t have to know exactly what it looks like right now. We just have to try.”

Vivienne leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest. The cool touch of the office air felt different now, more comfortable. The walls weren’t closing in anymore. “What does trying look like for you?” she asked, a half-smile tugging at her lips. “You want me to give up my life here for a cabin in the mountains?”

Alex’s expression was serious, her voice steady. “I’m not asking for everything to change overnight. I’m asking you to take a chance on something real. On us. I’m asking you to trust me, just like I’m trusting you.”

Vivienne took a breath, feeling the air in her lungs as if for the first time in weeks. The air in the room felt less stifling, the weight of the decision ahead no longer asheavy as it had seemed before. She looked at Alex, her heart pounding a little faster, a little louder. It was terrifying, but it wasn’t the kind of fear that made her want to retreat. It was the kind that made her want to step forward.

“I think...” Vivienne hesitated, trying to sort through the flood of emotions that were rising within her. “I think I’m ready to try.”

Alex’s eyes brightened, and she reached out, her hand stopping just shy of Vivienne’s. The touch wasn’t necessary, but it felt like the most honest gesture she could offer in this moment. “We’ll figure it out. One step at a time.”

Vivienne nodded, the promise of it settling in her chest like a quiet thrill. She wasn’t sure what this new beginning would look like. There was still so much left unsaid between them, so many questions yet to be answered. But she didn’t feel the overwhelming need to have all the answers right away.

For the first time in her life, she was willing to take a risk.

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