Page 218 of The Heart You Kept

“Let’s get going, guys, we can finish this in the morning.”

“Okay.” They begin collecting their things as Edward stands to the side with his hands in his suit pockets. His dark hair has a curl to it and the power emanating out of him makes the space feel so small and insignificant.

Even when out of his kingdom, he feels like a king.

“See you,” the others call as they leave.

“Goodbye.” He nods politely and I smile. I think watching him trying to be nice to people is my favorite new sport. I can almost hear his sarcastic inner dialogue from here.

“I haven’t even thought about dinner, babe.” I grab my purse. “I’ve had the busiest day.”

He puts his arm around me and kisses my forehead. “Let’s go out.”

“Like a real date?” My eyes widen.

He chuckles. “Sure, like a real date.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “This is your neighborhood, you tell me.”

Hmm, I know his snobby food choices, where the hell will we go?

“French or Italian.” I screw my lips as I think. “Japanese?”

“Japanese sounds good.”

“Okay.” I smile up at him. “It’s just around the corner, we can walk. Hopefully they have a spare table.” We walk out the front and I lock the doors as Edward goes and talks to Philippe; he must be telling him we are going out to dinner.

It’s so weird having to report every move to others, I need to talk to him about this. I really don’t think they need to come to work with me every day, it’s overkill.

He comes back and throws his arm around my shoulder as we walk. “How was your day?” he asks.

“Better now you’re here. How was yours?”

“About the same.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking, and I really don’t need guards with me.” I turn back to see them trailing us.

“Yes, you do.”

“I get it for you or when we are out or something, but every day?”

“You had someone put a tracker in your purse, Alora, we still don’t know who’s responsible.”

“You said it was Pascal.”

“We don’t have confirmation on that, though, he denied it.”

“When did you see him?” I frown.

“I saw him.” He rolls his lips as we walk along. “Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Wait…” I think for a moment. “Did you beat him up in the parking lot?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, did I?”

“Edward.”