His mouth curved.
“I was considering asking whether you’d like coffee.”
I laughed.
“Coffee?”
“Apparently, I’ve been told that’s how normal people begin.”
I smiled.
“Who told you that?”
“Camille.”
I laughed harder.
Damien looked pleased.
Then his expression softened.
“But only if you want to.”
For a moment, I thought about Brandon.
How he’d chosen my clothes.
My friends.
My schedule.
The way he’d treated my agreement as something automatic.
Then I looked at Damien.
A man who could intimidate an entire room simply by entering it.
A man who had never once assumed my answer belonged to him.
I smiled.
“Yes.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Yes?”
“I’d like coffee.”
He smiled back.
And for the first time, I felt something I hadn’t expected to feel again.
Excitement.
Not fear.
Not obligation.
Just the simple pleasure of choosing to spend time with someone.
The divorce was finalized eleven months after the night I escaped.
