He needed space, needed her presence gone from his house, from his sight, from his life before she destroyed what little peace he had managed to build.
"For the love of God, please leave," he begged, and the desperation in his own voice shocked him.
Victoria shook her head with the finality of someone who had already made an irrevocable choice. Her legs gave out, and she sank onto his living room couch, her body finally succumbing to the exhaustion her determination had been fighting all day.
"No," she said simply. "I'm not going anywhere."
James cursed under his breath, running his hands through his hair as the full magnitude of his situation hit him. She wasn't going to leave. No amount of reasoning or pleading was going to dislodge her from his life, and he was trapped in his own home with the woman who had shattered his heart.
"Fine," he said suddenly, his voice sharp with desperate resolve. "If you want to stay here so badly, then stay.
He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door, planning to find a new place to live or drive to a hotel, an office, anywhere that would give him the space he needed to think clearly. What he didn't expect was the sound of footsteps behind him, or to turn and find Victoria settling herself into his passenger seat as if she belonged there.
James stared at her in complete bewilderment, his mind struggling to process her latest act of determination.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Sitting in your car," Victoria replied, and despite her exhaustion, there was a hint of her characteristic innocent look when she was obviously up to no good. "Why?"
James felt his anger surge again, a hot wave of frustration that she could still push his buttons so effortlessly. "Get out," he said through gritted teeth.
Victoria shook her head calmly. "No."
"Victoria, you're dressed in nothing but my t-shirt. I'll drive off and leave you like that."
"Then I'll follow you like this," she replied without hesitation. "You'll drive off the minute I get out, and I'd rather be underdressed with you than properly dressed without you."
James stared at her, recognizing the unmovable determination in her eyes. This was the Victoria Sharp he remembered, the woman who never backed down from a challenge, who would pursue what she wanted with single-minded focus regardless of the consequences.
He hissed at her stubbornness, but found himself following her back into the house. The alternative of leaving her to follow him through the city in nothing but his oversized shirt was unthinkable, though he couldn't quite examine why her safety and dignity still mattered to him.
"Get dressed," he said, his voice tight with controlled frustration.
Victoria nodded and began changing, but the moment she was took off his t-shirt, James saw his opportunity and started moving toward the door again. Victoria's reflexes were lightning fast despite her weakened state. She ran after him, catching his arm while still naked, her clothes clutched in her other hand.
"Get off me," James said, startled by her sudden appearance and the press of her bare skin against his arm.
Victoria shook her head firmly, her grip tightening. "If I let go and you try to outsmart me again, I'll follow you out like this. Regardless of the cold, my fever, or being naked, I'll follow you for all to see."
James stared at her in disbelief, recognizing the calculated threat behind her seemingly desperate action. Despite himself, despite every rational thought telling him it was none of his business what she did, he found himself nodding agreement to wait while she finished dressing.
"Okay. I'll wait, put on your clothes."
As she pulled back, James berated himself silently. It's a threat, he realized with growing anger at his own weakness. She's manipulating me, and I'm falling for it. It's none of my business if she wants to run naked through the streets.
Victoria nodded and began changing right there in his living room, as if modesty was a luxury she could no longer afford. Her comfort with her own nakedness, her complete lack of self-consciousness as she stood bare before him, sent confusing signals through James's already overwhelmed system.
He looked away, his jaw clenched, telling himself that what she did with her body was none of his business. But even as he tried to convince himself of his indifference, he felt a territorial anger at the thought of her displaying such vulnerability to anyone else. The contradiction in his own feelings only added to his frustration.
It's none of my business, he reasserted quite firmly. If she wants to run naked through the streets, that's her choice.
But here he was now, sitting in his office with documents that needed urgent attention spread across his desk, and Victoria perched in the chair beside him with her hand wrapped around his arm like a lifeline she refused to release.
James tried to focus on the quarterly reports, the contract negotiations, the dozen urgent decisions that required his immediate attention. But Victoria's presence was like a constant electric current running through the room, making concentration impossible.
Every time he moved, she moved with him. Every time he reached for a different document, she shifted to maintain contact. She had attached herself to him as if she had never left, as if the month of separation had been nothing more than a brief intermission in the ongoing story of their lives.
What have I brought upon myself? James thought, staring at the same paragraph for the third time without absorbing a single word. One moment his life had been ordered, successful, moving forward with purpose and direction. The next, Victoria was back, inserting herself into every corner of his existence with the determination of someone who had nothing left to lose.
The weight of her hand on his arm felt like both a blessing and a curse, a reminder of everything he had lost and everything he was apparently powerless to keep from losing again.