“Oh? That’s great, babe. Any memories of me?” He looked at me hopefully.

I blushed and leaned toward him and responded in a hushed voice, “Well, the day I woke up from my coma, I did—”

Just then, Connor’s phone vibrated to life, cutting me off before I could tell him about the flashback I’d had of him as he was going down on me.

“Sorry, Liv. I have to take this.” He looked at me apologetically before answering his phone.

“This is Connor,” he spoke into his phone in his commanding, professional voice.

I noticed the couple at the table next to ours shot a quick glance at Connor and frowned. But Connor either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Instead, he looked over at me and mouthed a “sorry.”

I smiled and shook my head and mouthed back a “it’s okay.” I took a sip of my wine and tried to keep myself busy as Connor sat there in silence, listening to the person on the other end of the line.

“I see.” He furrowed his brow. “Yes, certainly, I’m more than happy to review the numbers for you. Just send the documents over.”

Then Connor hung up the phone and focused his attention back on me. “Sorry, Liv. It’s that client with the time-sensitive business deal that I went to New York for. I hope you didn’t mind.”

“No, of course not.” I shook my head reassuringly.

“Thank you. You’ve always been so understanding with how important this company is to me. Now where were we?”

“Um.” I tried to remember what we were talking about before the interruption. “I can’t remember.”

“That’s okay.” He looked down at his phone and I could tell he was distracted. “So how was your day yesterday? What did you end up doing?”

I bit my lip and thought about my answer. I knew that in order to answer his question honestly, to rid myself of the guilt I felt inside, and to be the fiancée he deserved, I’d have to tell him about Ethan. I looked at my engagement ring as my other hand move to the emerald diamond pendant that seemed to burn against my skin. I knew I had to tell him.

“Connor, I ended up going to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and…” I avoided his eyes. “I actually bumped into that guy who caught my fall in front of the hospital two weeks ago.”

“Oh, that’s great, honey. You always did love museums.” Connor’s voice seemed distant.

Confused by his response, I looked back at him. It was then that I noticed that he hadn’t heard what I’d say about Ethan, because he was preoccupied with whatever he was reading on his phone.

“Connor?”

“Yeah, honey?” He responded without glancing up from his phone.

“Everything okay?”

Finally, he seemed to snap out of trance and looked up at me. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, Liv. That client just sent me something.” He motioned at his phone as if that was enough to explain what had happened. “You know how it goes. Another fire drill and the client comes first.”

“I…” I wanted to say that I didn’t know “how it goes” but I held my tongue. I didn’t want to ruin the special night he had planned for us.

“Liv,” he interrupted my thought, “I hate to do this, but do you mind if we cut the evening short?”

“What?” I heard myself blurt out, completely surprised by Connor’s request.

He frowned. “I’m so sorry, honey. I didn’t expect this to happen, but I need to go into the office for a few hours. This client wants this deal finalized tonight or he’s backing out.”

Before I could respond, I saw Connor motion to our waitress for the check.

“Don’t be upset, Liv.” He noticed my shock and disappointment.

“I’ll be fine,” I tried to reassure him as I forced a smile on my face.

Fifteen minutes later, we were standing in front of the restaurant waiting for the valet to pull Connor’s car around.

“I need to go straight to the office, so I can’t drop you off at home. Let me call Jim to come pick you up.”

“No, it’s really okay,” I insisted. “It’s still early and some of the shops haven’t closed yet. I want to walk around and do some shopping.” I lied. I didn’t really want to go shopping. I just wanted to walk home alone and clear my head.

“Are you sure, honey? Jim can drive you around.”

“Don’t worry. We live less than a mile from here, and there are shops the entire way home.” I forced another smile. “I’ll be fine.”

Just then, Connor’s car pulled up, stealing his attention away from our conversation. “Okay. I love you, Liv.” He hugged me tightly and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

“Okay. Don’t work too hard.”

“Oh yeah, do you mind feeding Scooter my leftover steak when you get in?” He handed me his to-go bag of food.

“Yeah, of course. Not a problem.”

“Have fun shopping, gorgeous. I’ll see you soon,” he said as he slid into the Aston and drove off.

“Bye,” I whispered as I watched the car disappear around the corner.

On my walk home, I thought about everything that’d happened tonight. I knew Connor had a demanding job—he was CEO of his own multi-million dollar company. But I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t disappointed by how the night had ended. I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t disappointed by how quickly he’d ended our evening for his work. And the selfish part of me couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t disappointed that he failed to hear my attempts to tell him about Ethan—my attempts to rid the guilt that’d been weighing me down.

As I began to have doubts about my relationship with Connor, I remembered something Anna had said to me a few weeks ago.

“You are one of the hardest working people at Brady Global…In fact, everyone actually thinks you and Connor are like the perfect couple. You’re both hot, smart, and hardworking. It was actually your hard work and dedication to the company that first caught Connor’s attention.”

Was Anna right? Was I a workaholic like Connor before my amnesia? Had I cared about Brady Global just as much as Connor did? Was this what brought us together? If Anna was right, could I fault Connor now if this was how I was, how we were, and how we had fallen in love?

CHAPTE R FIVE

I was so consumed with my thoughts on my walk home that I found myself approaching the front door of the mansion before I even realized it.

Jim greeted me at the door when I walked in. “Good evening, Ms. Stuart. Mr. Brady informed me that you would be out shopping this evening. I was prepared to pick you up from wherever you were if you had called me.”

I managed a small polite smile. “Thank you for being available, Jim. It’s a nice, cool night for June, so I wanted to walk home and enjoy the refreshing evening air.”

“Very well, Ms. Stuart. It has indeed been a brisk night. The weather report says that a storm is rolling in.”

“I’m glad I got home in time then.” I looked out the window and saw large threatening clusters of shadowy clouds approaching from the distant horizon.

“Indeed. I don’t believe Mr. Brady would’ve been very pleased with me if you had been caught in the rain under my watch.”

His watch? His choice of words put me on the defensive.

“Don’t worry, Jim. I can take care of myself. I wouldn’t say anything to Connor that would negatively affect you.”

“Thank you, Ms. Stuart. I’m just glad that you arrived home safely. Now will you require my assistance for the remainder of your evening?”

I shook my head. “No. Thank you, Jim. Have a good evening.”

Jim nodded before retiring to his room down the hall on the opposite side of the mansion. When I heard his door close behind him, I let out a deep sigh.

After I put away Connor’s leftover steak in the fridge, I went to change into a casual tee and sweats. As I walked back out into the living room, my mind immediately recoiled back to him and what had happened this evening. I felt confused and torn as various feelings battled each other inside me. I couldn’t deny being disappointed by how Connor had cut our dinner date short for work. Yet, I knew there were also other facts that I couldn’t deny. After all that had happened in the last few weeks, Connor had stood by my side. He was at the hospital every day while I was in the coma and during my recovery after I woke up. He had been understanding and patient when I treated him like a stranger, flinching when he touched me. He had been generous and loving, showing me time and time again that I was in his thoughts.