Chapter 2Office Dinner: My Secret Love Chooses Him

Declan's POV

It was past 2:00 am by the time a car finally accepted my ride request.

When I walked through the door, Lana got up from the couch. "Why didn't you say you were heading the same way? I could've brought you back with me."

She asked it so naturally, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I wanted to ask her if she really hadn't noticed a coworker deliberately cutting me off to push her and Jasper together. I wanted to ask why she couldn't have just offered to give me a ride home herself.

But the words sat on the tip of my tongue, and I swallowed them back down.

"I forgot."

I walked closer and noticed she was wearing a matching pajama set, the kind meant for couples. Before tonight, Lana had never worn anything that matched with me, not even at home. It was always about keeping things from looking suspicious.

Something in my chest softened. "I thought you said you'd never do the matching thing."

Lana opened her mouth to answer, but before she could get a word out, Jasper strolled out of the bathroom wearing the other half of the set.

"I asked her to put it on," he said casually. "The brand gives a discount if you buy the couple's pack, but I didn't know the sizing for the women's version. I figured I'd have Lana try it so I could see how it looked."

My expression froze. Whatever warmth I'd just felt vanished completely. I'd thought Lana was wearing the matching set because she'd seen my resignation letter, that maybe she was ready to go public with us. But it was for Jasper.

He looked Lana up and down, studying the fit. "The women's cut still doesn't look quite right. Forget it, I won't buy it. It's not like I have a girlfriend to wear the other half anyway."

Lana picked up on the disappointment in his voice and answered without hesitation, "Then just take this set."

Jasper's eyes lit up. "Seriously?"

Lana's face stayed neutral, but a faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Declan never wore his anyway, not even once. It was just sitting there taking up space."

I kept my head down, clenching my fist and then releasing it. She was right. It was taking up space.

A couple's set wasn't much of a couple's set when only one person wore it, so I'd left mine buried in the closet collecting dust. I used to think I was waiting for the day Lana would finally be willing to go public and put hers on too. Instead, I'd waited long enough to watch her give it to someone else.

"Take it. I won't be wearing it."

Jasper threw his arm around my shoulder, grinning. "Declan, you're the best! Oh, and with the hurricane going on, do you mind if I crash here with you guys for a few days? I promise it won't be long."

I turned and walked away. "Stay as long as you want."

It didn't matter. I'd be gone soon anyway, so however long he wanted to stay made no difference to me.

After I got into bed, Lana spoke up in the dark. "What's with you tonight? You're so quiet. You used to get upset whenever I gave away any of that matching stuff."

I stiffened. When Lana and I first got together, I'd been so happy that I went out and bought matching mugs, matching slippers, matching umbrellas, and even matching pens. I replaced everything I could see with a couple's version.

The very next day, Lana turned around and gave away all the women's pieces as random prizes at work. Some coworkers noticed the items matched with mine and started calling me her little lapdog behind my back. I became the office joke overnight.

What hurt wasn't that she didn't like matching things. She could have just told me that. What hurt was that she chose the most humiliating way possible to get rid of them.

And after that, she took avoiding suspicion even further. She wouldn't even ride the same elevator as me.

I gave her the cold shoulder for days afterward, and Lana's way of making it up to me was to take me down to her wine cellar.

She pointed at an entire wall of bottles and told me every single one was priceless because they were all from the year I was born. She said they would only be opened on our wedding day.

I'd always believed Lana's love lived in the things she didn't say and that she just wasn't good at showing it.

But tonight, watching her jump in whenever someone tried to get Jasper to drink, pile food on his plate, and try on matching pajamas for him, I finally understood.

Some things looked like love without a single word. Others could be called love a thousand times over and still never feel like it.

My voice stayed even. "Didn't you say all that matching stuff was useless? If it's useless, then giving it away shouldn't matter."

Lana went quiet after that and didn't say another word.