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He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
I left the cigar in the ashtray and headed back inside, ignoring his last comments. Sara was dancing with Liam and giggling when I crashed into her fun.
“Can we have a word?” I asked.
She looked at Liam, who returned a look of doom. That told me straight away what I needed to know.
I looked for Ivy, and found her wearing a flirty smile while chatting with a younger guy. That really pissed me off.
Sara joined me on the balcony with Hunter. He put his arm around her waist as though to protect her.
My face must have shown the anger burning inside of me.
“I take it you told Ivy about me having to get married?”
Her eyes darted from me to Hunter. “It was a misunderstanding. I congratulated her, and I thought you’d told her, because she mentioned that she knew how you were under family pressure to step up and run the agency and that she knew everything. I assumed that meant your being forced to get married.” She gave me an apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry.”
My shoulders slumped in frustration. “Let’s not talk about it again.” I went to walk away, but Hunter stopped me.
“Look, Chase, you can’t blame Sara for this.”
“I’m going back in.”
I had to blame her. I needed to blame someone. I was flawed like that.
I knew deep down inside, however, it was always going to be a hard sell. Somewhere along the way, Ivy, who was very perceptive when it came to me and my motivations, would have caught on.
But I’d warmed to the idea of us tying the knot. That was what frustrated me the most. Even without my father’s ultimatum, I would have asked her.
I had to find a way to win her back.
And what would I say to my father?
He would just have to stay in the dark, which meant Hunter needed to keep this to himself.
I went over to him again. “Can I have a word?”
“Another?” he asked, shaking his head.
“Don’t tell the folks. Okay?”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
“And Sara too.”
He winced at my abrasive tone. “Don’t go blaming my wife. You should’ve come clean with Ivy.”
I rolled my eyes. He was right.
After I left him, I decided to go against Ivy’s wishes and stand close to her. Giving up was not an option, especially with a good-looking douche rubbing his big shoulder a little too close to hers.
She turned and looked at me as though I were a monster.
“Now, that’s not a nice way to look at your future husband.”
“What part of ‘it’s over’ didn’t you get?” she asked, her eyes wide and fiery.
“Do you know how sexy you look right now?”
