Page 94 of Wicked Queen

“Maybe we should go in another way,” I suggested, looking for a different entrance.

“That’s the only way that does not involve a ridiculous amount of stairs and walking,” Belle said flatly. “He’s not going to bite you.”

“But he wants to, right?” Sarah held up her hands when we glared at her. “I’m just trying to keep up. Sorry.”

“Don’t let him see me,” I told them as we strolled into the party.

“Sure,” Edward said slinging his arms around Belle’s and my shoulders. “No one will notice the three most beautiful women here walking back into the room. Excellent plan. Have you considered becoming a criminal mastermind?”

“I don’t want it to be a thing,” I explained.

He shook his head. “Then don’t let it be.”

Stepping in front of us, he held out a hand to his sister. “Fancy a dance? I can point out the available ones and steer you away from the gay ones.”

“Traitor,” I said as he guided her away.

“Oh, um, there’s Smith,” Belle said, biting her lip.

I sighed and shooed her away. Anders hadn’t spotted me, so I skirted the dance floor, searching for Alexander. I was about to give up and hunt down someone with an earpiece, who would definitely know where he was, when a strong hand caught my shoulder.

“There you are.”

I spun around with a smile, forgetting to account for my belly, which brushed against him.

Anderson grinned, his eyes finding the floor as he put distance between us. “I’m afraid that was my fault.”

“It was…don’t worry about,” I said breathlessly.

“I was hoping you would dance with me,” he said.

“Is that…?”

“It’s your sister’s idea,” he said quickly. “I need to show that we all get along, so they don’t think that we hate each other.”

I wasn’t certain that dancing with Anderson was going to send that impression, and I doubted Lola had explicitly made that suggestion. But since my best friends had abandoned me, I couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse.

Anderson and I walked to the dance floor and he put an arm around me.

“It’s a bit hard to take my waist at the moment,” I said apologetically.

“At my first primary school dance, the teachers went around pushing us apart so we weren’t too close,” he said. “This makes that a lot easier.”

I laughed along with him, wishing it could always be simple and easy between us. But until he’d figured out that I was off the market permanently, I worried that wouldn’t be the case. “You spoke to Lola?”

“Yes,” he said, taking a deep breath. “She’s a bit bossy.”

“She is a handful, but she knows how to run with this crowd.”

“Did she help you?” he asked.

“I sorta leapt into the deep end.” By the time, I’d realized that my relationship with Alexander was more than a fling, I’d already figured out how to tread water. “I should have asked for her help. She works with Belle on her business, and she’s always run interference for me when my mother gets too involved.”

“It sounds like you have an interesting family dynamic.” He smiled.

“And it’s still not as strange as my husband’s.”

“Tell me about it. A year ago it was me and my mum and now?” He looked around the room. “This isn’t my world.”