Page 169 of A Forgotten Promise

She is wearing an off-shoulder dress, and in the flickering flames, she looks so beautiful. My chest constricts. Fuck, I love this woman.

“Sometimes, I fear you’ll remember.” My voice is gruff.

She turns her head, half smiling, half frowning. “Why?”

I eat the distance between us and sit beside her. On the first breath, I get a hint of lavender and immediately feel better. “Because if you remembered, you might not choose me. Because then you’ll find yourself and realize you deserve better.”

She holds my gaze, and fuck, I want to take her into my arms. Take her away from here and start anew.

“Was I unhappy with you?” she asks, and reaches to play with my hair. Fuck, the amount of déjà-vus every day is messing with me.

I want to tell her a similar moment happened already, but what’s the point? For her, this is a new moment, and I should cherish it.

Maybe it’s me who is stuck in past memories. Maybe it’s not her need to remember, but my need for her to remember.

Fuck.

“I hope you were happy.”

She picks her phone from the seat beside her. “I was looking at my feed. This is very romantic.” She clicks on a post and turns the phone to me. Our elopement announcement.

My stomach sinks.

My initial reaction is to redirect. To avoid. To obscure. That has been my go-to mode for years.

But I don’t want to be that man with her. “It’s fake.”

She knows our match was arranged, but we never talked about the gory details. She turns to me, cross-legged.

Fucking déjà-vus.

“What do you mean it’s fake? You don’t want me to never feel lonely?”

I close my eyes briefly. “I do, Saar, I do want you to have everything that you need and desire. Even things you don’t know you need or desire. You deserve the world and the stars.”

She smiles.

“But this post… I hacked your feed, because your previous post competed with my interests. So I told the world we were married. To turn the narrative.”

“So we’re not married?”

“Yes, we are.”

“But—”

I sigh. “We got married later. Or rather, I paid to have a marriage certificate issued.”

“So you hacked my feed for your own gain, and I still stayed for the ride?” She leans back like she can’t stay close to me.

Fuck. Fearing I’m going to lose her in this conversation, I lean into levity. “I have a magic cock.”

I swear, her pupils dilate. Her chest rises and falls faster. She wets her lips, and the glimpse of her tongue stirs my cock.

She looks at me, heat radiating from her gaze, from her entire body language. “Can I see it?”

“You want to see my cock?”

Said cock stiffens at the idea, all eager, pushing at the zipper of my pants.

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