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Our father nods. “Good. Now, we need to go over the team for the Warner Communications transition. I was planning to have Crew oversee everything, but he’ll be busy over the next few months, before and after the wedding.”
My brain homes in on the phrasesfew monthsandafter the wedding. “There’s a date set for the wedding?”
“Nothing official yet. We’ll let the engagement announcement settle for a few days before announcing one. The wedding planner said she could pull something together by early June.”
June?“June?” It’s mid-April. I’m not opposed to marrying Scarlett. Mildly intrigued, even, following our conversation at Proof on Friday night. But six weeks feels close—claustrophobic. I wonder if her father has even told her we’re officially engaged yet.
“This agreement has been in place for nearly a decade, Crew. If you had objections, we’re far past the point to raise them. The press release is going out tomorrow.” I love how my father makes pushing your sixteen-year-old into a future engagement sound normal. I don’t even remember what our conversation back then consisted of. Probably lots of nodding on my part.
“I’m not objecting, Dad. Just asking.”
“Josephine Ellsworth is handling the wedding logistics. Scarlett is her only child. I’m sure she’ll keep you appraised, probably with more than you want to know. Now, what do you think about assigning Billingston to lead Warner? He had the experience at Paulson with…” My father continues to talk through the strengths and weaknesses of all the executives not currently on assignment. I lean back in the chair and scratch notes on a legal pad to refer to later.
Eight fifteen a.m., and I’m ready to call it a day.
I walk into my office and stop. Take a few steps back. Glance at the nameplate. “For a second, I thought I had the wrong office. But no. Thisismy office.”
“That joke gets funnier every single day you do it, man.”
“Off.”
Asher Cotes doesn’t move his feet from the corner of my desk. “Good morning to you too.”
“I mean it, Cotes. I’m not in the mood.”
“Was Roman thirty seconds late to pick you up again?” my best friend teases.
I snort as I stalk toward my chair. “I was late for a meeting with our entire accounting division on Friday because of that delay.”
“Too bad your name’s not on the letterhead. I’m sure they chewed you out.”
They didn’t, and we both know it. The vice president actually apologized, thinking he got the time wrong. I don’t tell Asher that.
“That’s how my dad runs things. Not me.” I unbutton my suit jacket and take a seat behind the massive mahogany desk.
Asher settles back in one of the leather chairs facing me. Feet still up. “What pissed you off this morning, then?”
I pick up a Montclair and spin it around one finger, debating on what to say. Fuck it, he’ll find out soon enough. “My engagement is getting announced tomorrow.”
Asher’s eyes widen to a comical size. “To Scarlett Ellsworth?”
I nod. Set the pen down, then pick it back up. “She was at Proof on Friday night.”Thatfact won’t be included in the engagement announcement. I don’t know why I say it.
“Damn,” is Asher’s initial reaction. “I knew I should have skipped dinner with my folks. How did she look?”
Like a fantasy.“Fine.”
“That good, huh?” Asher isn’t being sarcastic. His tone has turned admiring. He may not come from the sort of money Scarlett and I do, but his family is still wealthy. He’s attended events she’s been at before. He’s seen the thick dark hair and the perennially red lips and the figure that hijacks rational thoughts.
I don’t want to be married to a woman every guy I know is lusting after. A womanI’mattracted to. It’s a complication I don’t need or want in a part of my life I’ve always kept simple and easy.
Scarlett Ellsworth isn’t simple. She’s most definitely not easy. She’s smart and fiery and determined and sassy. And wherever she goes, she’s always the most stunning woman in the room.
She’s the sort of woman men go to war for, yet I didn’t have to do a single thing to win her. Our fathers decided our fates for us nearly a decade ago. I could fight it, but for what? The Ellsworths and the Kensingtons are the two wealthiest, most prominent families in the country. Marrying anyone else besides Scarlett would be marrying down.
“I talked to her,” I admit as I spin the pen around my pointer finger.
I’ve avoided conversation with her for years. We’ve exchanged small talk. Pleasantries. Compliments, like she pointed out. Nothing of substance. Nothing aboutus. We both knew it wouldn’t change anything.
