Page 67 of Misguided Vows

She smiles and leans over the bed, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “No. I think I like you now as you are.”

“Alina,” I grit out as she slips on a pair of shoes and pulls out a prepacked carry-on bag.What the fuck is happening right now?

She glances over me with an appreciative sigh and then turns on her heels as she blows a kiss to the camera.

“Alina!” I yell. “You can’t just leave me here.”

She looks over her shoulder with a smirk. “Just think of it as foreplay, love,” she coos before walking out of the room.

I hear the front door close behind her.

I tug at the restraints again, looking down at my towel-covered semi.

Fuck.

CHAPTER 36

Alina

My mother is currently making me soup for lunch. No one can cook like my mother. I’m sure most girls say the same thing about their mothers. But mine is extra special.

“So, do you want to tell me about him?” she finally asks.

“There isn’t much to tell.”

She looks over her shoulder to where I’m seated and raises a brow.

“Nothing to tell? Yet you’ve been constantly smiling as you sit there and stare at your phone.” I glance away from my phone, annoyed with myself that she just made her point.

The truth is, I wonder if Will’s still cuffed to my bed. He’s smart enough to get out of that situation, isn’t he? But whether within enough time, who can say? I’m certain I should win this bet. Even when he does get free, he’s most likely looking for me in New York. And even if his driver informs him I went to the airport, I could literally have flown anywhere.

I bite my bottom lip, wanting to have a glimpse at the photo I took of him sprawled out on my bed before I left. I mean, it’s not the most romantic thing, but I know what that thing can do to me. And how he can actually back up his words. I’ve been withmen who can’t back up their words at all and were a complete letdown.

I’m very happy to announce Will is not a letdown.

“It’s nothing. We both know what to expect from each other. Plus, our worlds don’t really mix, and we’re both super busy pursuing our… business ventures.” Is that what he would describe it as? I don’t need to explain to my mother what that means. But I know his world is dark, way darker than the bubble I live in. I don’t want to be guided back into that world, because it already affected me once.

I’m happy to have acquaintances associated with that world. I like some of the people who come from there, like Honey and Rya and Anya, but I also know my boundaries. I adore Honey and Rya for accepting me wholeheartedly, and although I want to keep their friendship, I’m not sure if I want to get entangled in that world through a romantic relationship. Not again. And there is nothing romantic about me and Will. Just plain old hard fucking.

“Sometimes the most unexpected people surprise us. Like your father, for instance. I wouldn’t usually have fallen for a man like him, yet I did. And I’m so glad I did, even if that meant I only got a short time with him, because he gave me you, and I had him for that time. Not many people get great loves, and I’m content to never have love again because none may match what I did have.”

I sigh at her words.

Why would I settle for less when I know that type of love is out there? The type where you wouldn’t go to any others. My father died when I was only ten. I don’t remember everything, but I do remember how he used to love my mother.

I wonder if Will’s wife was his greatest love and that’s why he won’t marry again.

Though I’m not sure I really want the answer to that question.

I was there to pick up the pieces after my father died. My mother worked so hard. She poured all of her love into me, and at times, I wondered if I was a burden. It’s why I’m unsure if I want to have children. I couldn’t do it on my own like my mother had. She’s the strongest woman I know. Then again, maybe the thought of starting a family terrifies me. After all, nothing’s guaranteed. It’s so much easier for the man to up and leave. And it’ll be me picking up the pieces again.

She’s lived in the same house since I was a child. My parents bought this house before I was born, and my mother loves it here. It’s a modest three-bedroom brick home. When my father passed away, she used most of his life insurance to pay off the house, keeping some for us to live off. She was able to afford things that she wouldn’t, have living off one wage and raising a child. She had the same car all while I was growing up, and when I hit twenty, that’s when she bought herself a new one.

She still has it.

I think it’s why I crave change. I’m so used to my mother not wanting it.

“You know you could move on, Mom. You could open your heart to someone else, and it wouldn’t diminish your love for Dad any less,” I tell her.

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