‘Come to a party with me,’ Ashton said.
I rolled over in bed, still half-asleep. ‘Nope.’
I’d neglected Mira Joie long enough, and ever since he was discharged from the hospital, Ashton hadn’t left my side.
When I woke up, he was there.
When I went to bed, he was there.
When I went to the bathroom, he was there.
Yes, the sex was great and I enjoyed it very much, but I wasn’t a machine. I needed rest.
Ashton prodded me again.
‘You go.’ I rolled to the other side. I’d never liked those parties anyway, the ones filled with champagne, shallow small talk, and nothing meaningful.
‘You’re my wife now. If you don’t come with me, should I find another woman to go with? It’s an important party tonight, and a date is compulsory. Do you want me to be the only one there alone, the one everyone laughs at?’
I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t see it. Who would dare laugh at Mr Ashton Laurent?
Still, he had a point. I was his wife now, and the title came with certain duties.
Reluctantly, I rolled back to face him. ‘Fine. But no sex tonight.’
In the end, he nodded, though his face made it clear he thought it was a monumental sacrifice.
I was dragged downstairs, fed, then carted off to a place where a team of stylists attacked my face and hair, spraying me with all sorts of things until I was half-asleep again. After that, I was shoved into another dressing room and asked to try on a parade of dresses, all of which looked equally elegant and equally expensive to me.
By the time I was finished, it was past five.
‘All this trouble,’ I grumbled as I climbed into the car. ‘This party had better be worth it.’
My dress was midnight blue, and Ashton’s tuxedo matched.
‘I’m hungry,’ I muttered, rubbing my stomach.
‘There’ll be plenty of food at the party,’ he said. ‘You don’t need to mingle much. A few glasses of wine, I’ll talk to some people, then we go home.’
The car took us to Rochelle, about twenty minutes outside Skyline.
The banquet hall was already teeming with people dressed to the nines. I spotted industry leaders, a couple of big names from city hall, and someone from the mayor’s office.
‘Who’s that with Ashton Laurent?’
‘His date? Girlfriend? Escort?’
The whispers started the moment we stepped inside.
I was used to it by now. Wherever Ashton went, eyes followed.
Me? I was the small fry. And despite his public announcement, plenty of people still didn’t know he was married, or that I was the wife in question.
Or perhaps, for some, the fact he was taken wasn’t a deterrent at all.
As Ashton passed, women checked their compacts, reapplied lipstick, and I counted at least four who fluffed their hair.
One woman, though, stood out.
She was about my age, tall, statuesque, with striking blue eyes. She wore very little make-up, but her bone structure did all the work for her.
She hadn’t stopped staring at Ashton since we walked in, and when his gaze finally landed on her, surprise flickered across his face.
The moment their eyes met, she broke into a radiant smile and glided over with the kind of grace you normally saw on the catwalk.
‘Ash! It’s really you!’ Her voice was honey-sweet, smooth, overjoyed.
In a few long strides, she was right in front of him, arms flung around his neck, her elbow conveniently shoving me out of the way.
I knew Ashton had admirers, but I hadn’t expected to meet one quite so... brazen.
Didn’t she see me standing right here? Was I invisible?
Ashton quickly prised her arms off him and stepped back, his face hard.
The woman frowned, glanced at me as if I were furniture, then turned back to him. ‘Don’t you remember me? I’m Genevieve! Genevieve Crawford! We used to hide in the treehouse all day. Remember the treehouse? Our secret fort?’
‘I remember you,’ Ashton said, his voice flat.
I studied her. So this was Ashton’s childhood friend?
From the way she behaved, more like childhood sweetheart.
But childhood was a long time ago, and Ashton wasn’t a fort-building boy anymore.
I hooked my arm through his, a silent declaration of ownership.
Genevieve noticed. ‘Oops, sorry, didn’t realise you had a date.’
She didn’t sound remotely sorry. The smile she tossed my way was more provocative than polite.
‘Ash and I go way back,’ she added, though no one had asked. ‘We grew up together, we were inseparable.’
‘Yes, I gathered,’ I said drily.
‘We even used to share a bed for naptime.’ She winked at Ashton, though the jab was aimed squarely at me. ‘I haven’t seen him in ages. That hug was pure impulse. We were close like that. Hope you don’t mind.’
I made a vague sound in my throat that even I couldn’t interpret.
‘Anyway, Ash,’ she turned back to him, apparently done with me, ‘I didn’t know you’d be here. What a lovely surprise. What’re you doing now? I heard you’re running LGH. That’s impressive. I also heard—’
‘That he’s married,’ I cut in. ‘Surely you’ve heard that. He put out an announcement and everything.’ Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on N0velFire.ɴet
Genevieve’s smile tightened. ‘Really? I didn’t know.’
‘That’s fine. You know now. Back then, Ash was just a kid, and however close you were, I wouldn’t hold it against you. But from now on, things are different. Ash is a married man. There are boundaries. I don’t care how long you two have known each other, or how close you were, but from this moment, he is my husband. You’ll need to keep your distance. After all, if you had a husband, you wouldn’t want some woman throwing herself at him, friend or not, would you?’
I delivered every word with a pleasant smile and perfect poise.
But I’d rather lay things out clearly than go through another Lea-style fiasco.
Genevieve’s smile vanished. ‘You and he are... married? You’re his wife?’
‘I thought my meaning was clear.’ I lifted my hand, fingers entwined with Ashton’s. ‘Here are our rings. If I’d brought the marriage certificate, I’d have shown you that too.’