Page 60 of All for Love

I sighed and stepped away from her, walking over to the shoe box on the sofa in the corner and opening it to take out the glittery, sky-high heels we’d chosen to go with the dress. As I handed them over, she sat down on my mattress to put them on and looked at me again, the thick charcoal lining her eyes making them seem bluer and bigger than ever.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I shrugged. “Aren’t I always?”

“No, but you do always pretend to be,” she said, lifting her hands to flick her hair back over her shoulder so it was hanging down the length of her spine again.

The stylist had added a few spiral curls to those golden locks and then braided some intricate plaits around her face and moving to the back of her head. It was a fancy hairstyle. The kind of thing some women wore to get married, and combined with the dramatic evening makeup, smoky eyes and red lips, Marissa was a knockout.

“You look gorgeous,” I said.

She smirked at me as she stood up and walked to her overnight bag to extract a bottle of perfume. “Thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself. Are you ready to go do this thing, or should we have a drink before we go?”

I checked my watch. “Dad will slaughter us if we’re late. Let’s grab a drink when we get there.”

She nodded, smiling. She spritzed some perfume on her wrists and throat and then stowed the bottle in the small clutch she produced from her bag. After sliding her phone, lipstick, and a few other items in it, she tucked the clutch under her arm and followed me to the car that was waiting for us.

When we arrived at the party together, there were a few others already milling about. Marissa held my arm but didn’t cling to it, a radiant smile on her face. I introduced her to some of our extended family and we greeted the handful of people she knew.

They were mostly from the office and scored invites to this Christmas party due to their close relationships to my father, and she let go of me to hand out hugs and eventually left to grab a drink with a woman who had been like her mentor while she’d still been working with us.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, tossing me a wink before heading over to the bar, stopping along the way to greet some more people.

As I watched, she mingled and laughed, so damn beautiful that I really wished I felt something for her. It just wasn’t happening though, and more importantly, I knew she didn’t have a single romantic feeling for me either.

Things just weren’t like that with us.

Kaden came over once Marissa was a safe distance away and fist-bumped me. “Good call on the date. Marissa is a crowd-pleaser and you guys make a fucking hot couple. Your kids will be cute. Are you a thing now?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Calm down. I’m just taking your advice. That’s all. Our kids would’ve been cute, though. You’ve got that right.”

He sighed and watched as she said hello to Brooke when they wound up next to each other at the bar. “Just stay the course. You never know. Something might happen between you two yet.”

I nodded, but I already knew it wasn’t going to happen. “We should go join them.”

Kaden followed me to the bar, wrapping his arms around Brooke from behind. I took my place beside Marissa. We chatted to a few more people, but when I spotted Margaux and Mercedes across the room, I knew the time had come to do the dirty deed.

“Hey, that’s Dad’s new wife and her daughter. Do you want to go meet them?”

Marissa looked them over, then grinned and took my arm. “I’d love to. Word on the street is that your dad is gaga over this woman. I never thought I’d see the day he took months off for a girl, so let’s go. I’ve been dying to meet her for ages.”

I tucked her hand in the crook of my arm, rolling my eyes when I caught Kaden nodding at me. I knew how important it was to make it look like I’d moved on. I wouldn’t fumble the ball.

Not even if this hurt me just as much as I suspected it was about to hurt her.