Chapter 1663
Tarquin Bradford didn’t mention he wanted to sound out Winona Newsom. Instead, he just held up the bag of pastries and a small cake box.
“I managed to wrap things up early at the office today, so I headed straight home. Picked you up some treats on the way p>
Elysia Thorne was packing some homemade comfort food. Tarquin popped a piece of a pastry into her mouth.
“Have a taste p>
“A new spot that just opened up on the corner,” Tarquin said. “Heard it’s gone viral online p>
Elysia glanced at the little cake, her brow furrowing slightly p>
“What is it?” Tarquin asked.
Elysia frowned, staring at the cake. “This… I’ve seen this design before. I know I have p>
“You’ve seen it before?” Tarquin asked, intrigued.
Elysia stared at it a little longer. “I feel like I have, but also… maybe not p>
Tarquin was speechless.
After another moment, Elysia shook her head. “No, I must be mistaken p>
She didn’t dwell on it, looking over the assortment of treats. “I’ll pick out a few of these to send over to Winona later p>
Not giving it much more thought, Tarquin asked, “You’re going to see Winona p>
“Not me. I’ll have them delivered p>
“Where is she now p>
“A hotel p>
“Why’s she staying at a hotel p>
“She wants some time alone p>
“Why does she suddenly want to be alone p>
Elysia pursed her lips and turned to him. “My, you’re full of questions today, aren’t you p>
Tarquin chuckled. “Just curious. Are all these for her p>
“Yep.
“Send me her location. I’ll have a driver take them over p>
“Okay p>
As soon as Tarquin got the location, he immediately forwarded it to Keaton Huber.
[Winona’s current location p>
Keaton had just stepped inside his beach house, his shoes still on, when the notification pinged.
He stood in the entryway and texted back a single question mark. p>
Tarquin replied: [If you want to see her, you can go straight there p>
Keaton wrote back, [Why would I want to see her p>
Tarquin didn’t respond. Keaton texted again: [I’m not going to see her p>
He stared at his phone for a long time. When Tarquin still didn’t reply, he finally took off his shoes and went inside.
Slouching on the sofa, he zoned out for a while, but he couldn’t resist. He opened the location link Tarquin had sent.
Winona was close by, just a few minutes’ drive away.
If Tarquin hadn’t talked to him today, if he hadn’t had that showdown with his mom, he probably would have gone to her.
And what would he do? A drink, a conversation—it didn’t matter. He just craved her company; she had a way of cutting through his noise.
But liking to be around someone wasn’t the same as being *in love* with them.
He had fallen hard once before, truly, deeply in love with someone… so he knew
what it felt like. And whatever he felt for Winona, it wasn’t that.
Which meant he couldn’t give her the future she deserved.
So, regardless of whether Winona liked him or not, he shouldn’t lead her on. If he didn’t love her, he needed to stay away.
He couldn’t treat Winona like all the other girls p>
As he thought about it, an
inexplicable frustration washed over
him. It felt like a heavy weight on his
chest, a pressure he couldn’t
release, leaving him suffocated and
miserable.
He closed the navigation app and tossed his phone aside. Grabbing a beer from the
table, he chugged half of it in one go.
After sitting alone for a while, he picked up his phone again and made a call.
“Send a couple of guys to the
Seaview Resort Hotel to protect
She’s in room 1808. Júst keep a discreet watch, don’t let her know you’re there.
content.
Zane Livingston was still out there somewhere, which meant Winona was stillin potential danger Even he didn’t love her, he didn’t want anything to happen to her