Hawthorne

Prologue - Break-Down

Camilla White

As I slip back into consciousness the memories of last night come back to me.

"I love you," he panted, lips brushing mine and eyes blazing into my own. "I love you so much it hurts."

"I love you too," I answered back with a gasp as he thrust into me, agonizingly slowly.

For months now, we've been denying feelings that have been there ever since I set my eyes on him for the last time. But last night, all of that denial, all of that restraint went out of the window.

We thought we could do this without having feelings involved. It was naïve to think that all that brought us together was an attraction.

We were wrong. So dead wrong.

I should have known that I wouldn't last long. I fell for him and I fell hard.

But there is hope.

If the King's wife is pregnant as they were saying two weeks ago, Vincent's title as a Duke might allow him to be with - or marry - whoever he wants, instead of having to choose high nobility as he would have to if he were to be King.

Not much can rock my happiness today.

It's also the first time we even allowed ourselves to sleep together. A smile settles on my lips as I turn around and move to snuggle into him.

As I move and the warmth turns cold, I frown and open my eyes.

Empty.

The space next to me is empty.

I guess something can rock my happiness, after all.

And that's him.

That realization settles a heavy and unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach but I brush it off.

He loves me, he wouldn't hurt me. Not after everything we've been through and what we've said to each other last night.

He's busy. I know he's busy.

He's hosting his mom's birthday gala tonight. She insisted he'd be the host since they have barely been spending time together.

He had me in charge at first but she refused. Still, I have been helping a lot since I know the house better than anyone.

That reminds me that I also have a lot of things to get done. We're probably not going to see much of each other today but hopefully, we'll be able to have some alone time after the gala.

With that thought on my mind, I get up to get ready and start work right away.

👑👑👑

I've had a shower before work but with the number of things I have been carrying and moving around, I know I'll be needing another one before tonight.

"Cami," Alex calls from the ballroom. "The flower arrangements are wrong."

"What do you mean?" I run in his direction, to supervise it.

"The order was red, right?" He frowns.

"But these are... white?"

"Yes," the delivery guy assured me the order was correct.

"Well, they go with the decoration all the same. Place them and I'll see it with the Duke," I reassure him.

I walk to Vincent's office, through the disarray of people and tables and chairs and decorations going around from one division to the other, in preparation for tonight.