Faux Vows, True Desires

"You're Ruby's childhood friend. Even though I can't stand her drama, I have to admit you're totally smitten with her. No way in hell would I be dumb enough to marry a guy who's already got another woman in his heart."

Owen rolled his eyes, "Alright, I can live with that."

He'd been burned pretty badly by Ruby; he even thought about throwing in the towel a couple times. But every time Ruby played cute, trying to sweet-talk him, he just couldn't let go.

Now that Stefan had Lucinda, Ruby should get the message and move on. He still might stand a chance.

"I'll go make you a cup of coffee." Cecilia headed straight inside, and Owen acknowledged her with a nod.

Waiting was a real bore, so he got up and took a stroll around the shop. Even though Ruby had done a number on the place, after tidying up, you could still see its original charm. The interior was tastefully decorated and cozy. It was a nice place to grab a coffee, have some dessert, and shoot the breeze with friends.

"Cecilia, who did the interior design for your shop?"

"Lucy and I. We were on top of the workers every day, making sure everything was just as we designed it. Pretty good, right?"

"Who did the design?"

"Lucy. She studied design. She's just a free spirit who didn't want to be tied down in a corporate job. I wanted to open a shop, so I asked her to join me. We opened this coffee shop together." Business wasn't great at first, but now it was picking up.

Owen acknowledged her with a nod.

He'd seen Lucinda's profile. The woman had indeed studied design but chose not to pursue it due to her love for freedom. Had the design world lost a talent?

Now that she was part of the Anderson family and Stefan doted on her day and night, she was even less likely to go back to a corporate job.

"Do you want sugar in your coffee?"

Owen thought for a moment, "Just a bit."

Cecilia added a little sugar for him.

out with his coffee and handed it to him,

her eyes were particularly bright. She was beautiful, but her eyes were her most dazzling

serve your

the coffee to where he was sitting earlier and put

both sat down, and Cecilia watched Owen drink

affection, Owen couldn't resist saying, "If you keep staring at me like this, I'll think you've

women falling for you at first sight, I

her gaze, "You enjoy your

that's got

bigwigs wouldn't be interested. But stories of your love affairs always seem to be a hit. No matter what's trending online, the bigwigs' stories always draw a crowd."

achieved the same kind of wealth as the male leads in those novels are usually quite

"Do I need to make a living writing novels?

write you into her novel

only good enough to be a side character? Write me as the male lead. I wouldn't want Lucinda to write me into her novel. She's Stefan's wife, and who knows if she'll make me out to be ugly,

laughed, "Have you ever read a

I was younger, I read a

did put in quite an effort for Ms. Scott." Cecilia's

pretended not to notice and continued sipping his coffee that Cecilia had

on Ruby, he would

respond, unsure of

every time they meet, and neither of them was ever willing to back

was rare for them to have

him, especially since

the Martinez family's

yard. After a while, the butler came out of the house and brought him a glass of water. "Sit with

replied, "What would you

and got caught, and then they got mad. I

sighed, "I actually really enjoy chatting with them

his peers, they had