Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 102

Chapter 102

OCEANS

I protested. But Moon was not ready to hear any of i

She insisted, and I let her.

It was just a bath.

That was what I told myself while I stood by the bathroom door with my phone in my hand and my patience thinning by the second.

She wasn’t going to bathe me

She wasn’t going to touch me.

She was just filling a tub.

I could survive that.

She insisted I stand there with her. I couldn’t turn down every little request she made.

I was on my phone all through, while she talked about things I’d normally not give a fuck about. I nodded at intervals, I hoped made sense.

“Tell me you’re fine.

I hit the send button and stared

at

my screen, half–expecting Kiss to reply immediately. The little delivered mark appeared.

But there was nothing after that. No typing bubbles. No response.

I hadn’t heard from her since I left the hospital. Elgin wasn’t answering my calls either. The worry had settled into my stomach like something I couldn’t digest.

“You forgot that, too,” Moon said, pulling my attention back into the bathroom

I looked up. She was pouring something else into the water.

“Forgot what?” I asked.

“You weren’t even listening?” She shook her head sadly. “The engagement party.”

Fuck.

I’d appreciate it if that topic were less talked about around me, because was finally beginning to accept it.

“I didn’t forget,” I replied.

“You have a terrible lying face when you’re tired.”

“I don’t have a terrible anything.”

That made her smile again, but this time it carried a sadder undertone.

She turned off the water and faced me.

thought of it gets me a bit on edge. But I guess I

Tye been doing most of the planning. The venue is almost ready. I changed the floral design because the first one looked

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Chapter 102

like a funeral, and I’m still arguing with the decorite everything look like a clinic”

A clinic

My mind gave me Kisarel on a hospital bed before I could.

Everything around me always managed to point back

the

lighting. I want it warm

Gold, not white. White makes

Moon’s voice softened. “I want it perfectly beautiful, Oc us. Our families. The press. Your board. Mine.”

I know you don’t care about parties, but people are watching

“I care.” I replied.

She looked at me, almost hopeful with my words. “I care that my next choice of words folded her hope away.

But she tried not to let it show.

you

get what you want,” I added, and immediately, I saw that

The tub was nearly full. Steam softened the edges of the mirror and curled around her bare legs. She turned off the tap and picked up a towel, placing it neatly on the vanity.

“There,” she said. “It should help.”

“Thank you.”

She stepped closer and touched my arm. “Let me

help you.

“No.”

She blinked. “Oceans-”

“I don’t need help with a bath.” I kept my voice calm and even. “Thank you. You’ve done enough. But I’d like to be alone now.”

She swallowed. Her eyes searched my face like there might be a softer version of the answer hidden somewhere.

There wasn’t.

“I just wanted to-

“I know what you wanted.” I took one step back from the door, giving her space

She stood there for a moment, her hand still on my arm. Then she nodded

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be in the bedroom.”

to pass. “Not tonight.”

****

I stayed in the bath long enough for the water to cool, and long enough for me to make peace with the fact that Kiss wasn’t going to reply to my texts.

I ended up sending four.

When I finally stepped out, wrapped a towel around my waist, and walked

into the bedroom, Moon was waiting.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed and had changed into a deep blue silk robe that fell open slightly at the collarbone. Her hair was down now, drying in waves around her shoulders. The lamp on the nightstand was on, but she had set it to a lower, warmer ambiance.

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Chapter 102

She looked like a painting of a wife waiting for her husband.

“Better?” she asked.

“Better.”

That should have been the end of it.

I should have crossed to the dresser, put on something I fucking knew the decision.

Instead, I stood there because something in her face looked knowing. She was doing her best to be the ideal woman.

stranger.

taken my phone, and gone to my study. I knew the route, and

sad and innocent, like I was hurting her without even Was running out of decent excuses to keep treating her like a

Moon rose from the bed slowly and walked toward me… “Oceans…” She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I instinctively pulled them off, like reflex, before I caught myself.

Fuck.

Her eyes watered.

“God, I’m tired of trying, Oceans!” Her voice broke. “You’re not making this easy on me. I am trying!” Her lips trembled.

“Look… I just need a little more time.” I said.

She scoffed, shaking her head, but she was still standing too close.

I could smell her light, floral perfume on her, and I was teaching myself to get accustomed to it, even though it wasn’t working.

“I don’t know where you go every time you leave me standing in front of you,” she said. “But I know you’re not here with me. You never have been. Even though you asked me to move in.”

“Moon-”

“I was there that night, Oceans.” Her voice dropped. “I bled for you. I thought that meant when you finally found me, I wouldn’t have to beg you to see me. But, I guess I was wrong. My blood. My pain. My tears. The trauma. They all mean nothing to you.” She whispered. “I still have to beg”

The words hit exactly where she meant them to. And the sadness in her eyes… Fuck.

“You don’t have to beg.”

you fired “Then prove it.” Her eyes searched mine, “Not with your card. Not with a jet. Not by giving me back a friend because I asked nicely. Prove I’m not humiliating myself by planning a wedding with a man who can barely touch me.”

I swallowed, and her eyes followed the movement as she waited.

“Maybe I’m not beautiful enough. Or, perhaps, I just didn’t bleed enough to matter to you.” She gestured with both her hands in the air, frustration sleeping out of her. “I guess I was stupid to have stepped between you and that bullet… I guess there is another woman out there you must be dying for, and…” I caught her wrist immediately, hard enough to stop her hand from pressing deeper into a truth I did not want opened.

“Enough.” I said through gritted teeth, but she wasn’t done.

She held my gaze before adding almost in a whisper, “…Or maybe becaus

That did it

you aren’t man enough, Oceans.”

O

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Chapter 102

M

She finally pulled at my last strand of restraint

My fingers circled the back of her neck as I pulled her

I fucking kissed her. And I wasn’t taking that

back.

crashed my lips on hers.

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