The CEO’s Unspoken Love (Eleanor and Derek) novel Chapter 220

Chapter 220

There was something mesmerizing about Eleanor when she was absorbed in a task. The slight furrow between her brows, the way she bit her lower lip in concentration, the delicate precision of her fingers as they arranged and straightened-all of it revealed a woman who cared deeply about the smallest details. Who put her heart into everything she touched. Who had, against all reason, put that same heart into loving me.

These past months had transformed our relationship in ways I never expected. Our mornings now had a comfortable rhythm-

Eleanor rising first to make coffee, the scent drawing me to the kitchen where she’d stand in one of my old t-shirts, hair tousled from sleep, more beautiful than any woman had a right to be at 6 AM. We’d discuss the day ahead while she absently traced patterns on my hand with her thumb, a habit she seemed unaware of but that I’d come to treasure.

Evenings were spent cooking together or curled on the couch watching classic films I pretended to have seen before. I loved watching her reactions more than the movies themselves-the way her eyes widened during suspenseful moments, how she mouthed favorite lines she knew by heart, the warm weight of her head on my shoulder when she grew tired but refused to admit it.

The intimacy of shared domestic life-her toothbrush beside mine, our clothes mingling in the laundry basket, the small bottle of lavender oil she dabbed on her wrists before bed that now scented our sheets-had become precious to me in ways I couldn’t articulate. Each night I fell asleep to the gentle rhythm of her breathing, her body curled trustingly against mine, and each morning

I woke amazed that she was real, that she was mine.

I entered the bookstore quietly, nodding to Mrs. Bennett, the elderly owner who had taken an immediate liking to Eleanor.

“Derek!” Mrs. Bennett greeted me warmly. “Come to steal our best employee away?”

“Guilty as charged, I admitted, moving toward Eleanor, who turned at the sound of my voice, her face lighting up with a smile that reached her eyes, transforming her features with a joy I still couldn’t believe was meant for me. That smile-unguarded and genuine -was a gift I’d once been too blind to appreciate.

“I’m sure,” I squeezed her hand. “The doctors cleared me for all normal activities weeks ago. Besides, I want to show you I’m fully recovered. I didn’t add that I needed to prove it to myself as well-that I could take care of her now, rather than the other way around.

And this sudden desire to see the stars?” she pressed, a hint of suspicion in her tone, her lips curving into that half-smile that always made me want to kiss her.

I kept my expression neutral. “Can’t a man want to appreciate the cosmos with the woman he loves?”

Her laughter filled the early evening air, light and teledir. “Now I’m definitely suspicious.”