Can such a strange friendship turn into love? He never realized she was so lovely. She never noticed how charming he was. Miles Bridgerton and Vanessa Everleigh have known each for over a decade and both of them had never really given the other much...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It is never easy to tell someone how you feel.
----------------
Vanessa felt the cool night air brush against her skin as she sat on a bench in the garden. It helped her breathe better after feeling suffocated in the busy ballroom. Truthfully, she didn't want to go. She had holed herself up in Everleigh House since she returned from Aubrey Hall, used every excuse she knew to avoid visiting anyone. But there was no excuse that would let her skip the opening Danbury ball of the season.
She felt restless, nervous, uneasy. She didn't feel like herself tonight.
All she could think of was Miles. She had been replaying the kiss in her mind. She should feel regret, but really she didn't. She was glad it happened, because it reminded her of her promise to herself that she wouldn't marry. But it hurt, to know how it felt to be in his embrace. To know how his lips felt on hers.
It hurt, to get a taste of the life she refused to have.
She loved how it felt, but it was breaking down her walls. He was breaking down her walls. She couldn't let that happen.
"Vanessa?" She heard him and her breath caught.
"Miles, what brings you here?" She asked him, trying to act normally. She decided it would be better if he did not notice that her demeanor was off.
"Mary mentioned that you were here, alone. I thought I might keep you company, it is not safe for a lady to be alone." He sat next to her, wise enough to have a reasonable distance between them.
"It is not safe for a gentleman to be alone with a lady either." She said, considering the irony.
"It's not as if we haven't been alone together before."
Vanessa hesitated before speaking. "You and I both know things are different now... What will people think?"
"Who cares what they think?" Miles said, "Most of them are foolish."
"I care, Miles." She said bitterly, turning to look at him. She did not know what overcame her, possibly the emotions that had been bottling up inside of her for the past week. She tried to stay calm so Miles would not be alerted, but she couldn't help it. "I care what society has to say, as surprising as it may sound. They would probably gossip that I planned to be alone with you because a scandal would be the only way for me to secure a husband."
She felt tension grow in the air, and she hated that she created it. Looking back down at the ground front of her, she spoke again. "And I can't help but agree with them that I cannot secure a husband in a genuine way. I am a spinster, after all. Deservedly."
She bit her lower lip, stopping herself from saying anything more self-deprecating. She didn't know why she said such things, maybe deep inside she had always agreed with what the ton said about her. She knew who she was to them.
