Chapter 218\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI meant what I said before, I love you. I know that I don\u2019t deserve it, but\u2026 I hope that one day you\u2019ll gue me another chance to prove it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The words came out before I could stop them. The feeling of her in my arms, the warmth of the bond, it was enough to override my logical mind. I let the words tumble out in a stream and waited for Ellie to react.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t say a word, just melted into my hold. We swayed to the music, not really dancing anymore, but using the excuse to stay pressed together. I could feel her hands grip the back of my shirt and hold tight like she might float away if she let me go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I held on just as tightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This feeling was almost too intense, but I didn\u2019t want to give it up. I don\u2019t know how much time passed before she lifted her head and looked up at me. Her expression was hard to read: confusion, suspicion, maybe even hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was too afraid to ask. I just looked back at her, my eyes locked to hers. I saw the moment her eyes welled up. The memories must have been too much, I told myself. I tried to stave off my panic at the thought that she might be struggling against this moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her head tilted, moving a bit closer, and I moved with her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My lips brushed against hers, our breath mingled. I didn\u2019t kiss her, though every instinct was telling me to close the distance and let the bond, let my instincts, guid\u00e9 us. I resisted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I let her make the choice. Our lips brushed softly as she moved deliberately forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t even enough to really be considered a kiss, but it sent a shiver down my spine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie pulled back slowly, her eyes searching mine for something that I hoped she would find. We stared at each other for a long, tense moment. Then Ellie turned away, and I felt something in my chest break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She owed me nothing, I kept telling myself that. Her reactions were justified, her caution was natural. But it made my wolf howl with anguish to watch her walk away from me again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I swallowed it all down. The disappointment, the fear that I\u2019d somehow messed it up again, all of it. I held it back as I watched her go. I don\u2019t know how long I stood there watching as she vanished back into the crowd, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my aching heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The music had faded, but Ellie\u2019s scent still lingered in the air \u2013 faintly sweet, threaded with the warmth of moonlight and memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood at the edge of the courtyard long after she\u2019d gone, watching as the crowd swallowed her up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew he should have let her go sooner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the moment she\u2019d turned toward me, eyes bright with unshed tears, every part of me had remembered. The ache of missing her. The way her voice softened when she said my name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The way she looked at me before everything fell apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d almost ruined it again almost reached for her, almost begged\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this time, I hadn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d stood there, hands trembling but steady at my sides, and let her walk away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t easy. Holding her in my arms had felt so terribly right. Like it was everything I was ever supposed to do\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chap 28\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
in life. Feeling her pulse beat with mine, feeling her breath against my shoulder. It nearly broke me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now the firelight was dimming, and laughter carried faintly through the open doors of the Moonstone packhouse. The celebration was still alive around me, but I couldn\u2019t feel any of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d meant what I said. I loved her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That truth was simple, even when everything else between us was not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through my hair before heading toward the terrace. The air was cooler there, cleaner. Away from the noise, I could think.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first time in my life, I didn\u2019t want control \u2013 I wanted clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The path ahead of me wasn\u2019t about claiming Ellie or convincing her to return. It was about becoming someone she could stand beside without fear. Someone the boys could depend on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t that man yet. But I wanted to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRough night?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance\u2019s voice came from behind me. I turned to find my brother leaning against the stone railing, two glasses of whiskey in hand. He offered one wordlessly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took it with a faint huff of laughter. \u201cYou could say that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance clinked his glass against mine. \u201cI\u2019m guessing the dance didn\u2019t end with a happy ever after.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 218 Chapter 218\u00a0 Nolan POV\u00a0 \u201cI meant what I said before, I love you. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}