AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You like it?”
“I love it.” I glance over at him. “Since you accusedmeof being jealous, I’ve always wondered: what did you say to that guy in Proof? The night you came over to the booth, right before we were engaged?”
“Technically, we got engaged when we were sixteen.”
I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“I told him you were mine,” Crew replies.
“That’s all you said to him?”
“Him? You don’t even remember the guy’s name, do you?”
“Stop changing the subject.”
“Do you?”
I think back to that night. Try to remember the guy who came over to my booth and talked to Sophie and Nadia. But all I remember about that night is Crew. How he looked. What he said. “No,” I admit. “I don’t.”
He grins, pleased. “I might have threatenedEvanwith a little bodily harm if he got handsy with you that night.”
The possessiveness in his voice elicits a contrary mixture of contentedness and annoyance. “I wasn’tyours. We weren’t even married then.”
Crew shrugs. “It felt like you were.”
I remember how pleased I was when he dismissed that redhead. I shouldn’t have cared who he screwed back then. But I did. “See? I knew you were romantic.”
“You saidwasn’t.”
I raise a brow. “What?”
“You said, ‘I wasn’t yours.’ Does that mean you are now?”
“Yeah,” I tell him. “I am.”
In the past year, I’ve learned a lot. One of the things I’ve discovered about Crew is that his assurance means he is rarely without something to say. This is one of those rare moments. Where he gifts me with a sentimental smile that tells me he’s as much mine as I am his.
“Did you think we would be here the day we got married? Likethis, I mean.” I gesture between us, as if love is a tangible connection you can see between two people. “Ever wonder what it would be like if you’d married someone else?”
“Do you?”
“I asked you first.”
He ignores me. “You know one thing about us that was always confusing? Whyme? Up until my father told me I’d be CEO, it made some sense. But once he did, I always wondered…”
His musing is too pointed, too precise. “Your dad told you.”
“He mentioned you…requestedme.”
I smile wryly. “Hanson Ellsworth doesn’t grant requests.”
“So…”
“So, it was more of a threat. I told him I’d marry you…or no one.”
“Why?”
I shrug. “Part of it was rebellion. Back then, everyone assumed Oliver would end up at the top. Asking Arthur to change the terms after they’d been set would be embarrassing for my father.”
