Checking Boxes

His name was Ian. My name was Grace. But in a city of eight million people, who cared about names.
Surprisingly, he did. We’d bumped into each other once, but Ian remembered my name and the fact that I owned a flower shop.
And… he knew I walked to my shop every day. A bit stalkerish, I feared.
Then he offered me a place to live when I needed one. I’d cook him dinner every night for a rent-free stay.
Yep. Right. Too good to be true.
I accepted when I should have stayed away.
After getting finally on the right track to having the stable life I wanted, I didn’t need to throw a mysterious guy into the mix.
But despite my best wishes to protect myself, I was so intrigued by him. He was enigmatic, handsome, successful—a man who owned his world.
And it didn’t help that he sought after me relentlessly. So, for a while, I’d silenced my doubts.
Physically he was there, checking all the right boxes with me, but his heart held to a secret he swore I would never unveil.