-Christian-Her smile right now is intoxicating; watching the way she interacts with her mother, her laugh, the way her eyes light up when her mother holds her hand… I would do anything to chase this feeling over and over.Lydia’s clinic finally said yes to the trip; after I told them I would hire two full-time nurses and assured them Lydia would be fine, they relented. Well, Leia told them, not me. She wanted to do it herself.So here we are, on our way to one of the hotels my father owns on the first stop of our vacation. At first, Lydia refused to go, saying it was a waste of time, but she came around eventually. This trip means a lot to Leia since her mother’s decision, so I’ve decided to spare no expense to see both of them happy.When we walked into our hotel room, Lydia gasped and placed a hand over her heart. “Oh, this is beautiful, Christian!” she exclaimed with nothing but wonder in her eyes as she stared over the night skyline. “You truly didn’t need to do all this.”I sho
-Leia-You would think I’d get used to my mother dropping bombs on me, but right now I am more pissed off than hurt.“Why?!”“Leia, calm down-”“No!” I exclaim, shaking my head at both Christian and my mother. “No, I want to know why you’re cutting your vacation short. We haven’t even left for Greece yet!”My mother looks down at her hands in her lap and one of her nurses takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. “I’m tired, Leia, and I want you two to have fun without worrying about me all the time.”I shake my head. “Mom, this vacation is so we can spend time with you before… before…” I can’t bring myself to say it and a sob chokes me up. “You can’t leave!”I feel Christian’s arms around my waist and lean into him without even thinking. He’s become my rock lately, always there when I need him, and I’m starting to worry if he’ll ever get sick of me. That would just be the icing on this ruined cake called my life, wouldn’t it?My mom gets to her feet and I reach out for her. “No, please,
-Leia-I suck in a breath, in awe at the beautiful view in front of me. Aspen is gorgeous, I’ve always wanted to come here ever since I was a little girl, but never thought I’d ever get the opportunity. Now I’m standing on Christian’s private airstrip, overlooking the vast snowy dips and falling in love with the sight. “This is just…wow…” I trail off with my hand on my heart.Christian chuckles and kisses the side of my head. “You like?”“I love!” I squeal, jumping into his arms. “This is perfect, Christian, thank you!”After Paris, I didn’t expect to feel like this, especially with my mother leaving for home. Just feeling happy now makes my heart clench with guilt, but I know she would have wanted me to enjoy this time with Christian.“Well, wait till you see the cabin,” he whispers into my ear and takes my hand. “I had it cleaned out and stocked yesterday, so we won’t have to go anywhere for a while. Oh, and it has a fireplace, too.”A tingle shoots up my spine at that promise and
-Christian-Leia is dressed in a skimpy little silk PJ set while I’m wearing a t-shirt and boxers, whipping up a stir fry.“I still can’t believe you can cook,” she says, leaning over the kitchen counter with a glass of red wine in her hand. “Why don’t you cook for me at home?”“Well, if you remember correctly, I’m barely home to even cook for myself,” I say while cutting up the chicken breasts. “But if I have some time off, I’ll gladly cook for you.”That smile on her face is everything and guilt rears its ugly head as I know when I get back, we’ll barely spend time together. My company stocks are stable again, but that doesn’t mean we’re still not the subject of sabotage.“Thank you, Mr. Moore, I’d love that,” she says before getting to her feet and walking to the windows overlooking the snow-dusted mountaintops.If I knew she loved this place so much, I would have brought her here sooner. The absolute wonder in her eyes is another favorite of mine, I need to see that more often so
Hi there, Readers! I do apologize for this book coming to a standstill for the last two weeks. We're halfway through Leia and Christian's story, but there's still a long road ahead for them. Daily updates, with two to three chapters per day, will resume from the 1st of February and the book will conclude on the 10th of February. You can either read two chapters daily or wait for the completion on the 10th. Thank you for sticking around and not slamming me with one-star reviews for slow updates! I did not want to rush this story, and I am certain you will appreciate what will come next. Thank you again for reading! xx
-Leia- The emerald dress I’m wearing seems to bring out the color of my eyes and I’m starting to see why Christian chose this color. It’s our last day in Aspen, and he’s decided to take me out for dinner before we have to leave. I sniff, but maintain a smile.We’ve been holed up in the cabin, wrapped up in each other without a care for the outside world. Well, Christian tried to but he was on his laptop and cell phone often. I can tell by the clenching of his jaw that something is up, but he’s adamant everything is fine. However, I know that look in his eye; it’s the same one Alexander wears when he’s about to face an oppositional CEO of a rival company. There’s something up with Christian’s company and he’s refusing to talk to me about it.By the third day, Christian was asleep, and I decided to go outside into the shed to get more firewood. Don’t ask me how I did it, but I slipped on the tiles next to the heated swimming pool.Yes, I fell in.He heard my scream and came running ou
-Leia-Wait, what the hell just happened? Is he leaving me here?! I turn my head to look for him and see him chatting with the blonde. She nods, walks away and then she returns with my coat, causing me to frown at the exchange. He comes back to our table with the coat in his hands and drapes it over my shoulders. “We’re going back to the cabin,” he says and I blanch.“What do you mean? We’re on a date-”“One we wouldn’t have gone on if you told me you were still feeling sick, Leia,” he says, pulling me to my feet. “They’re delivering our order to the cabin, so don’t worry.”I blink and my lips are a thin line while he leads me out of the restaurant. Damn it, I was really looking forward to our date but now I screwed it up twice. Great going there, Leia!The drive to the cabin is spent in silence, with Christian white-knuckling the wheel all the way back. I don’t know what to say to break the silence, much less ease it. So I do what I should have done in the first place - I shut the
-Christian- Full tilt into work and I’ve barely come up for air. I was right about being wary of the rival CEO because we found out he had rats in my company. They were feeding him information, and details about our marketing campaigns, strategies, and who we had in our crosshairs. To say I’m angry is putting it fucking lightly; my company is close to losing everything and the more I fight, the more I get pulled under. Balling my hands into fists, I lean my head against them and breathe out a long sigh - today has been worse than usual. We lost three big clients because of the rival company showing them my marketing campaigns and there’s nothing I can do to prove they were our ideas. Everything is snowballing, and I have no idea what to do. The little voice in the back of my head tells me this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t go on that vacation with Leia. But even as I think it, guilt grips my heart. There’s no way I can blame this on her when I planned it. How am I going to