Page 64 of Guarding My Love

CLOUDED BY STUPIDITY

Not again.

Charlotte pushed back from her desk and moved to the front door. She’d seen the Porsche pull into her driveway and was going to meet Landon before he could set foot on her property.

She opened her front door and walked the few steps to stop at the top step so when he came around she was there with her hands on her hips.

“What has happened to you?” Landon asked.

“What?” she asked. It was the horrified look on his face that had her looking around that maybe slime had exploded on her house and she was covered in green goo.

“You don’t look anything at all like the woman I fell in love with.”

She couldn’t even hold the snort back on that. He’d never loved her. Never even said those words.

He was more along the lines of saying “the same” when she told him she loved him.

Now she knew it wasn’t love and she was just clouded by stupidity.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Your clothes. They are so...basic. And your hair. It’s not styled. You don’t have any makeup on either.”

She started to laugh.

Yep, all the things she did...or didn’t do daily now.

She got up, showered, found clothes and got to work. If she had to be on a video call, she put a bit more effort into her appearance.

She never realized how freeing it was to not care about those silly things.

“I’m working,” she said. “I don’t have to see anyone and this is what I wear.”

Landon got a sympathetic look on his face. “I know, you’re grieving our breakup,” he said. “It’s why you let yourself go. That and moving out here. Why don’t you stop being silly and come back to me where you belong?”

She started to laugh. Truly laugh. “I’m not grieving anything,” she said. “Sorry. What’s the matter, do you need someone to host a party for you again? One of your friends has a new girlfriend and you need to show me off?”

Landon’s face twisted some into the expression of an ugly prick that she’d wished she’d seen in the beginning.

Live and learn.

She was learning now.

“Just cut it out, Charlotte, and pack a bag to come back to me. I’m sure your landlord can find someone else to rent this place.”

She growled. “I own this house. I bought it. It’s mine and I’m not leaving. But you’re leaving.”

Landon didn’t look as if he believed her. Then Marco started to bark and claw at the glass door.

“What is that? Do you have a dog too?”

An even more appalled look on his face. Landon thought pets were filthy.

“I do,” she said. “I found he’s more stable in my bed than you were.”

“What does that mean?” Landon asked. He looked down at his shoes as if he thought walking on her sidewalk he might have stepped in poop. She wished he had.

“It means I always know where he is. I don’t have to wonder.”

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