Chapter 311

Chapter 307

Kylie had just finished explaining why a particular legal drama was insulting to every criminal lawyer who had ever lived to Lucy and Rowan when she noticed Christian approaching.

She stopped speaking.

He held out his hand. “Come with me.”

She looked at his hand. Then at his face. “Where?”

“Somewhere.”

“That is not a location.”

“I’ll try to be more specific next time.”

“Christian.”

He wiggled his fingers. “Please?”

Something about his expression made her pause. He wasn’t smiling in his usual teasing way.

He looked nervous. Not visibly enough for anyone else to notice, perhaps, but Kylie knew him.

She knew the slight tension in his jaw.

The way his thumb brushed against the side of his index finger when he was thinking.

The careful stillness that settled over him when he was trying to keep his emotions from showing.

She looked at him for another second. Then she placed her hand in his. “All right.”

His fingers closed around hers.

He led her away from the crowd, past the dining area and towards the quieter end of the house, where the music softened and the voices became distant.

Kylie followed him, glancing over her shoulder once. “Are we escaping?” She joked.

“Possibly.”

“Did you offend someone?”

“Not yet.”

“Did I offend someone?”

“Almost certainly.”

She laughed. “Christian!”

He smiled, but he didn’t answer.

They passed through a doorway and stepped into a small garden at the back of the house.

The evening air was cool.

Soft lights had been strung along the fence, casting a warm glow over the plants and the narrow stone path. Beyond the garden, the city stretched into the distance, its lights scattered across the darkening sky.

There was a small seating area beneath a tree.

A few flowers moved gently in the breeze.

The sounds of the gathering were still audible, but distant enough that they no longer felt like part of the moment.

Kylie stopped. She looked around. Then she turned towards him. “Oh.”

Christian watched her.

She smiled. “This is pretty.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

She looked at him again. “Why are we out here?”

He took both her hands.

For the first time since she had known him, Christian Sinclair seemed uncertain about what to do with them.

He held her hands. Released one. Took it again, and then laughed quietly at himself.

Kylie stared at him. Her eyes softened.

Her expression changed. “Christian?”

He swallowed. “Can you give me a minute, please?”

She immediately nodded. “Of course.”

He nodded. Then he looked down at their joined hands.

Seven years.

He had known her for seven years.

He had watched her become more confident in herself, more certain of her place in the world, and more willing to speak when something mattered to her.

He had seen the woman who used humour to get through difficult moments become a woman who could sit across from a judge and argue her case without flinching.

He had watched her turn ambition into something real. And he had loved her through all of it.

Sometimes, he thought the most extraordinary thing about Kylie was that she had never allowed the world to convince her that her brightness was something she needed to apologise for.

She was also compassionate, intelligent, courageous, and capable of a kind of loyalty that made Christian feel humbled.

She loved with her whole heart. Even when she pretended she wasn’t. Even when she was uncertain what to do with the depth of her own feelings.

She had let him see parts of herself that she had once protected fiercely.

She had trusted him with her fears. She had trusted him with her anger. She had trusted him with the parts of her past that still hurt.

Christian lifted his eyes.

Kylie was watching him with a softness that made his chest ache. “You’re scaring me a little,” she admitted.

He immediately shook his head. “No. No, baby. I’m not trying to scare you.”

“Then why do you look like you’re about to tell me you’ve committed a crime?” She whispered. Her voice comfortimg, and ready to listen.

He laughed.

The sound eased some of the tension in his shoulders.

“I haven’t committed a crime.”

“Good. Because I am not defending you for free.”

His mouth twitched. “Noted.”

She squeezed his hands. “Talk to me.”

He looked at her. And then, finally, he began. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”

Her smile faltered slightly.

“About us.”

She went still.

He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand.

“About the life we’ve built. About the life I want us to have. About the fact that, somehow, six years have passed together, and I still find myself looking at you across a room and wondering how I got so lucky.”

Her eyes widened a little.

He laughed under his breath. “I know. It’s embarrassing.”

“A little.”

He smiled. “Thank you for your honesty.”

“Always.” She winked at him.

He drew a slow breath.

“Kylie, when I met you, you were already yourself.”

She tilted her head.

He continued.

“You were loud. You were funny. You were stubborn. You had opinions about everything, including things that had absolutely nothing to do with you.”

She gasped. “Christian!”

He laughed.

She laughed back.

He brought her hands closer to his chest. “And I loved that about you.”

Her expression softened.

“I loved the way you walked into a room and made it feel different. I loved the way you could make people laugh when they were having a terrible day. I loved the way you defended your friends, the way you cared about people, the way you refused to pretend you didn’t have an opinion just because someone might disagree with you.”

He paused.

“And then I watched you start to doubt yourself.”

Kylie’s smile faded.

He noticed immediately.

He squeezed her hands.

“Not because you weren’t capable. You always were. But because people had spent too much time telling you what you were supposed to be.”

She lowered her eyes.

He waited until she looked at him again.

His voice softened. “And I watched you prove, again and again, that you never needed to become someone else.”