“Being twirled around the dance floor by a handsome man who’ll be my husband tomorrow while the city’s elite drools over the pair of us? What’s not to love?”
“Your feet have to be hurting.”
“I’m wearing flats. You just can’t tell under the dress. Camille warned me not to go with the ultra strappy shoes.She must have known you’d dance me off my feet. Anyway, you’re the one who insists we keep moving.”
“It’s either that or I kill the next man who asks you to dance.”
“You can’t say I didn’t flash my engagement ring at them.”
“No, and that made them want you more.” I shoot a disgusted look at the room, the fancy chandeliers and the oversized dance floor and the stupid auction items.
I knew that my showing up with a strange woman, complete with an engagement ring, would trigger gossip at an event that, historically, I attend solo, but it’s been particularly bad tonight.
“I’ve watched more women undress you with their eyes than an optician could deal with,” she reprimands. “And you’re not wearing an engagement ring.”
“Don’t sound so disgusted,korovka. Men don’t tend to wear them.”
“How’s that fair?”
“I’ll wear a ring tomorrow,” I soothe.
“Oooh, I need to buy it for you.”
“It has to be titanium.”
“Not gold?”
“Gold will get scratched.”
“Ah, yes. In your line of work, coming into contact with so many hacksaws…” She smirks. “Isn’t tungsten stronger? I’ll google it after.” She doesn’t let me answer. “I can’t imagine you attending these by choice.”
“If I want to look respectable, then I have to donate big to the causes these rich fucks appreciate.”
“Like you’re not a rich fuck.”
“Mine wasn’t inherited. I claimed mine.”
“You, Viking, you.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t love it.”
Her tongue smoothes over her lips. “You wouldn’t want me to lie.”
“No,zaya, I wouldn’t.” Dragging her closer to me, I rest my hand on her hip and squeeze.
“Who did you attend with before?”
“Nobody.”
“Nobody?”
Her bewilderment makes my lips twitch. “I slipped in and I slipped out?—”
“That had better be a euphemism!”
I can’t withhold the gust of laughter that escapes me. “The past four years, it has definitely not been a euphemism. I show my face, donate to one of the lots or sign a check, I eat the shitty food, and I go.”
“And in between, women flaunt themselves in front of you?”
