Chapter 22

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Chloe picked up a bottle of Lia's favorite wine on her way to Lia and Ben's house for dinner. It was their Saturday night tradition to meet at someone's place for dinner. It was a brisk night, and Chloe only lived a few blocks from their house, so she decided to walk and not mess with parking.

As she approached the house, she saw Ben, Silas, and Valentine sitting on the porch with beers, watching the neighborhood and tourists pass by the house. Chloe hadn't known that Valentine had been invited.

She was still far enough away not to have been noticed, so she stopped and looked her fill. It looked like a dream come true. How often had Chloe wished Valentine was with her during these dinners? Lia had Ben, and Faye had Silas, and in her few moments of weakness, she had wondered what it would be like for Valentine to be there with them, and now he was.

He looked good. He was wearing blue jeans and an expensive-looking sweater. It was so far from how he had looked in Drevniye. He looked like a normal guy and not the warrior she was used to seeing.

Ben said something that made them laugh, and Valentine stopped with his beer halfway to his lips and made a comment that made them laugh even harder. Her heart stopped. When was the last time she had heard him laugh? She wished she was close enough to hear him now.

Taking a fortifying breath, she walked towards the house. She was wearing an old pair of blue jeans and a cable knit sweater that she had stolen from Valentine years ago. It was one of her prized possessions, and she wondered if he would recognize it.

Chloe pasted a smile on her face. "Hello all," she greeted as she climbed the steps.

All three men looked at her. Ben smiled, Silas nodded, and Valentine let his eyes roam over her from her head to her toes as he lifted his beer to his lips. Chloe did her best not to fidget under his intense stare.

"Hey, Chloe, Faye, and Lia are inside arguing about the best way to cut a tomato," Ben told her. Chloe took the hint, and with another smile, she turned and entered the house through the front door.

"Hey, Chloe!" Lia greeted from where she stood, stirring something on the stove.

"You could have given me a heads up!" Chloe hissed as she sat the bottle of wine down on the counter.

"Lia thought you wouldn't come if she told you he was going to be here," Faye explained as she reached for the wine and a corkscrew.

"I probably wouldn't have!" Chloe said as she slumped onto a barstool at the island.

"Here, drink this," Faye said, handing her a glass of wine. "It'll take the edge off."

Chloe drained the glass and held it out for a refill.

"Hey, go easy. You brought that for me," Lia griped.

Chloe looked at her with a raised eyebrow, reminding her that the reason she felt it necessary to down an entire glass of wine was that she hadn't told her about Valentine.

There was a tense silence, and a few minutes later, the men joined them.

"Is dinner almost ready?" Ben asked as he looked over Lia's shoulder.

This night was going to be a disaster, Chloe thought as she held out her glass for another refill.

Faye eyed her. "You planning to drink all of Lia's wine?"

"Yes," Chloe said, jumping a little as Valentine sat on the stool next to her. "I find this situation incredibly stressful."

"What situation is that?" Silas asked with a tilt of his head.

"The fact that Valentine is here and you are all staring at me expecting me to do something," She sipped her wine, killing more of her brain-to-mouth filter. "Were you all in on this together? I appear to be the only one who didn't get the memo that Valentine would be here tonight."

"You didn't tell Chloe that Valentine was going to be here?" Ben asked Lia with a resigned sigh.

Lia focused her attention on the pot she was stirring.

"No, if I had, she wouldn't have come," Lia defended herself.

"A decision she had a right to make," Silas insisted.

"I can leave if this is a problem?" Valentine offered, setting his beer on the island.

"It's fine. I just need a few minutes to adjust to the idea." Chloe didn't want him to go.

There was a tense silence.

"Did you adjust to it yet?" Ben's smart mouth asked.

"Here, have some more of Lia's wine," Faye offered.

Chloe looked at all of them watching, her watching them.

"I like your sweater," Valentine said as their eyes met. He did remember that it was his.

"It's one of Chloe's favorites. She wears it all the time in the winter." Faye smiled, latching on to Valentine's comment like a drowning woman.

"I can understand that. It used to be one of my favorites before Chloe stole it from me." Valentine's face was deadly serious, but Chloe saw the little twitch of his lip.

"You and me, the other room, now!" Chloe said, standing and stomping out of the room.

Valentine followed her as she led the way out of the kitchen and down the hall to a library. He watched her as she closed the door to the hallway and the large pocket doors that separated the library from the parlor.

"Why are you here?" Chloe asked as she turned to face him, taking in his massive form from across the room. His shoulders looked so wide in the sweater he was wearing.

"Here as in Savannah or here as in Ben and Lia's house?" he asked.

"Both, and don't give any crap about writing a book either. At the hospital, you said you needed time. Does your being here mean that you don't need any more time?"

Valentine looked as if he was struggling with an internal debate.

"Please, just talk to me, Valentine. You don't need to protect me." Chloe sat on the edge of a sofa and placed her head in her hands.

"I will always feel the need to protect you, Chloe." Valentine sat in a chair next to her, leaning forward. "This time, I feel the need to protect you from me."

"Then why are you here?" she demanded. "You're sending me mixed messages. Just tell me the truth!"

"Fine, I had no intention of seeing you while I was here, but I knew I was taking a chance when I came to Savannah that we would see each other." Valentine rubbed his hands together.

"Then why did you come? Why did you tell me that you had waited for me too? Was that a lie?" she asked again.

"No!" his voice was rough. "I wanted to see where you lived. To walk in your square so I could imagine the same things you did." He stood and started to pace. "The plan was to visit, see Savannah and Silas, then leave. After seeing you in the hospital, I planned to disappear immediately, but before I did, I wanted you to know that I love you and have waited for you too. It seemed very important all of the sudden that you should know that."

Chloe felt numb. After their meeting in the hospital, she had believed that he had planned to find her, but now he was saying that he hadn't planned to do that at all. She didn't know how to deal with what he had just told her. If he loved her and wanted her, then why wouldn't he just be with her.

"I'm too broken for you, Chloe. I'm not good for any woman and definitely not one I love." He had read her mind.

"What will you do when you go back to Drevniye?" she asked after a long moment of silence. She knew nothing she said would make a difference at this point.

"I'm not going back. My life there is done. To stay there would only be hanging on to the past. Something neither one of us should continue to do." Valentine walked over to the window and looked out at the street.

"Everything you have is there. Why would you leave it?" Chloe asked. Her heart was breaking for herself and him.

"I have nothing there. Everything I owned belonged to the state. Thankfully I gave all I had to Silas to invest for me twelve years ago, and he had made me enough to live comfortably anywhere I like."

"Do you like Savannah?" she asked. "If I wasn't here, would you stay indefinitely?"

"Probably," he said. "I like your city, and Silas is here."

Chloe stood, taking a deep breath. "Then stay. You're among friends here who want nothing from you. Stay here and write your book. Heal. I won't expect anything from you. I promise—no more pushing for something you don't want on my part. We'll be friends, and I won't expect more."

"I don't feel like that is fair to you," Valentine said.

"It's not," Chloe agreed, "but I'll get over it."

Chloe moved to the double pocket doors, stopping before she opened them. "You're not getting the sweater back," she said over her shoulder.

"That's alright. I don't think it would fit me now."

It was an unfair comment that made her gaze drop to his broad chest.

"If you do decide to stay, I would ask one thing of you." Chloe's eyes rose to meet his. "Learn to laugh again." Chloe turned to slide the doors open to find Lia and Faye doing their best to act casual. While Ben looked amused, and Silas wore his usual bland expression.

"I'm starving. We should eat?" Chloe suggested.

"Let's eat!" Ben said, standing and motioning towards the dining room.

Chloe had no idea how she survived that night or the many dinners after Valentine had decided to stay.


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