Been Loving You Too Long by Seraphina Donavan Page A

would give her the chance to start over somewhere else.   Because she wouldn’t be able to stay in New Orleans afterward, where she might see him, where she would be constantly reminded of him.  
    With a heavy sigh, as much capitulation as resignation to the misery that she would feel when it all ended, Ophelia picked up the pen again and scrawled her name across the bottom of the contract.  
    Vincent followed suit, and then Stanley.  
    When it was done, she felt hollow.   The five million dollars was for Vincent’s conscience, because he had no intention of trying to make things work between them.   She’d known that going in, of course, but there’d been a tiny spark of hope.   It was well and truly gone, buried under the weight of a contract.  

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     

     

    Ophelia lifted the last of the boxes out of the car and carted them to the back porch.   Even though she’d just gotten it out of the shop, it didn’t sound happy and she was glad it had made the last trip from her apartment without her having to call someone for a tow.  
    The idea of having Vincent pick her up while she sat on the side of the road in a broken down vehicle was less than appealing.   She hadn’t seen Vincent since they’d signed the prenup in Stanley’s office.   That was more her doing than his.  
    Avoiding him, at least for the time being, was still an option.   It was a delay, a stalling tactic on her part, because it was just too hard to think and to function around him.   There was irony to be found in the fact that she was fulfilling the dream she’d nurtured and cherished as a starry eyed adolescent—becoming his wife. Now that it’d happened there was no joy in it, and there would be no happily ever after.
    She’d begun moving her belongings the day before, much to Brenna’s dismay and tears.   She’d shed a few of her own as well.   It was sad to leave her little apartment, to leave the life she’d built for herself for this thing that would in all likelihood break her heart.  
    Unlocking the door, she used her foot to shove the boxes inside and then carried them up the stairs.   It was an incredibly intimate thing to see her toiletries lined up in the bathroom next to Vincent’s, to see her clothes hanging in the closet next to his suits.
    Tomorrow night, she would be sleeping in that bed beside him.   Shying away from that thought and all its many implications, she began the arduous process of unpacking the last of her things.  
    Glancing at the clock, she noticed that it was a quarter till four.   That would give her enough time for a soak in the tub to get rid of the dust, sweat and grime before Vincent arrived home.  
    Moving into the bathroom, she turned on the taps and allowed the tub to fill as she added some of the scented bubble bath.   Piling her hair atop her head, she pinned it in place and then stripped off her soiled clothing.  
    Removing her MP3 player from the pocket of her jeans, she settled it into the docking station on the counter.   The sultry strains of JJ Grey and Mofro poured out into the room, echoing in the large space.  
    Sinking down into the tub with a groan, she allowed the warm water to ease muscles that ached with exhaustion.   She had only a few short hours before the girls’ night out that was to be her bachelorette party and she was too exhausted to even think about it.   
    The water felt heavenly sliding over her skin.   Leaning back against the edge of the tub, she allowed the heat to seep into her aching muscles.   With the discomfort alleviated, she became all too aware of another discomfort.   Every time she’d crossed the threshold of Vincent’s room, now hers as well, she’d been reminded of their night together.
    She couldn’t put it out of her mind—all the ways he’d touched her, as if he knew precisely what she wanted even before she did.   The mind numbing pleasure that he’d given her with his hands, with his skilled mouth,