Ashley woke to the sound of silence. Utter total silence. A delicious kind of silence that comes after too many days of chaos. No clatter, no staff voices bleeding under doors, just the slow rhythmic breathing of Julian, still asleep.
He looked so vulnerable and relaxed while he slept. She was almost tempted to roll over and swipe the lock from his handsome face. But she held back.
She realized her first thought wasn't about emails or press statements. It didn't take long for guilt to catch up. She hadn't been to her office in days.
Monday waited, tapping its foot in big tension and impatience.She reached for her phone on the nightstand. Before she could check for notifications, a broad, warm palm slid over the screen.
Julian's hair a perfect disaster, leaned on an elbow and pressed the phone back to the table. She almost closed her eyes taking in his nearness. His smell, his warmness. She braced for him to wrap her in his arms,but it didn't happen.
"No work," he murmured, voice still rasped with sleep.
"I'm already behind," she whispered with a little disappointment.
"Exactly why I canceled everything for you," he said with a small, infuriating grin. "Appointments are shuffled. Calls rescheduled. The assistant will live."
"You canceled my day?" she asked, half-amused, half-scandalized.
"Think of it as me exercising my executive privilege." He winked at her. "You've kept our contract,the marriage and my company from imploding over the last week. You've earned a day off."
"That's over stretching it, but if you insist …"
He pushed a tray toward her, like it'd been waiting like an obedient servant all morning. Coffee steaming, pancakes fragrant with butter scotch and cardamom. A bowl of pistachios, followed.
She blinked at the details, he'd remembered her favorite spice, her comfort snack.
Her eyes widened "Breakfast in bed? Who are you? And what have you done with Blackwood?"
"Don't tell anyone," he said, mock-serious. "It'll ruin my reputation."
She dove in without hesitation. They ate lazily and relaxed. Crumbs fell on the sheets, and neither cared. He fed her the last bite of pancake with his fingers.
The gesture felt absurdly intimate, she blushed.
She couldn't help but wonder if he was some sort of psychopath who derived pleasure from switching personalities, just to torment innocent unsuspecting victims or this was really his way of showing gratitude. Whichever way she promised herself she wasn't going to let her guards or defences down.
They spent the next hour reading side by side-her novel, his tablet of market reports. She caught him stealing glances at her, not the numbers. When he caught her catching him, he smiled without apology.
"You're terrible at subtlety," she said.
"I'm excellent at priorities," he replied.
"Is this your typical day without work? Is there any other thing you do for fun?"
She lived with him, slept in the same room but they were practically strangers. During the weekdays they were all about their business and when they came home, civility reigned supreme. They ate dinner together if they were hungry, while making small talks. Julian always adjourned to his study, soon after. Most of the time she was already asleep by the time he came to bed.
His voice interrupted her thoughts "The vacations, sometimes solo, sometimes not."
"You mean the ones you go about daring, winning and dining beautiful women all over the world?" she said.He glanced at her, and some imperceptible string drew tight between them. "It got me you, didn't it?" he said grinning at her. Ashley caught a glimpse of the man she had fallen for again. The boyish carefree charm and grin was still there. She suddenly blamed the weight of his world on him, making excuses for his dual personality.
A slow shower later, a puzzle abandoned at twelve pieces, and a stolen nap melted the edges of the day. For a few blissful hours, the outside world, gossip blogs, family power plays, puppet masters, didn't exist. In her they were untouchable and in their warm cocoon.
By late afternoon, Julian checked his phone for the first time. A message lit his screen, and Ashley saw his features harden in an instant. His eyes went flat, his jaw tightened. He kept ignoring an incoming call, thumb lingering over the decline button.
The moment passed so quickly she might have imagined it, but the shift in his face was unmistakable.
His features had hardened suddenly. She wondered if 'Mr. Hyde' was back so soon. It wasn't anger exactly, something colder, a decisive stillness that took him out of the room and into different energy, clearly evoked by the call.The phone buzzed again. A name lit the screen she couldn't see from her end. He stared at it for two beats too long, then let the call run out and flipped the phone facedown on the duvet.
Ashley stayed there observing and her first instinct was to ask. She thought to lace her voice with lightness and pretend she didn't care. She swallowed it,thinking she shouldn't have to ask. One of the clauses in the marriage contract's addendum on code of conduct was hinged on honesty. Was he truly honest? she wondered. She managed to fake a care free voice, " Who's that? you look like a ghost just called you"
He looked up and found her watching. Whatever had stiffened him eased enough for a human expression to break through. "Sorry," he said. "Not today, we'll talk about it some other time."She crossed the room and sat beside him, close enough that their knees touched. "Not today?" she echoed. He reached for her hand. "I'll tell you," he said. "Just…later. After we've finished being greedy with our hours."
"Okay," she said, even though she was no longer at ease and far from being okay.Still, she let it slide, she'd learned in the last whirlwind weeks that Julian Blackwood's silences were walls he built carefully. Prying would only make him reinforce them.
The evening crept in, lavender sky smudged with gold as the city lights flickered awake beneath them. Julian poured themselves wine. They simply watched the skyline, comfortable in the silence. The world looked peaceful from up here, a convincing lie.