VICTORIA POV
Month Six.
Things were accelerating.
Dinners twice a week now. Sometimes three times.
Coffee every morning. Our schedules had synchronized without planning it.
He'd taken me to his cabin. Just once. Briefly. To show me the view. To see what I thought of the property he was thinking of buying nearby.
I'd been careful. Professional. Admired the view. Suggested improvements. Didn't stay long.
But I'd been inside. Had seen where he lived. How he lived.
Simply. Carefully. The way a man in hiding always lives.
Ready to run at any moment.
Which meant he had contingencies. Money hidden. Escape routes planned.
I filed it all away. Every detail.
He texts me every morning now.
Good morning. Coffee at the usual time?
Morning. See you there.
Simple. Routine. Comfortable.
We talked about everything Books. Movies. Life.
Building intimacy. Layer by layer.
He hadn't touched me yet. Not beyond handshakes and the occasional brush of hands reaching for the same thing.
