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I pointed at the photographer, at the people that were noticing Blake, and then noticing that he was with someone.
Blake grimaced.
“Yeah, I probably should have warned you about that.”
“It’s not like I don’t know who you are,” I whispered to him as we got to the front of the line for the pictures. “Just something I hadn’t considered.”
We stopped on our mark, the photographer directing us on how to stand before bulbs began flashing as he took a few shots of us.
When that was over, Blake’s large hand dropped to the small of my back as he led me through the door, and I did my best not to focus on that spot where our bodies now connected.
That wasn’t hard to do once the doors shut behind me, and I got to take in the inside of the building we were in.
Beautiful, gleaming, white marble floors spanned the space. The vaulted, gilded ceilings towered above us and were lit with an opulent, warm glow. Two massive arches in front of us led to the main ballroom, and I could see people milling about.
Pedestals were dotted around the space that had living statues on them. People who had been painted to be silver and gold and moved ever so slowly from pose to pose. Servers dashed around the space carrying trays of appetizers and drinks. As one passed us carrying champagne glasses, Blake reached forward and snagged two.
He handed one to me as his eyes held mine, his lighting with mischief as the corner of his lip tucked up in a grin.
“To us,” he said as he raised his glass slightly between us. “And to pulling off the rouse of the century.”
I rolled my eyes at him, but I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face as I raised my own glass and echoed, “to us”.
We clinked our champagne flutes together before raising our respective glasses to our lips. And never once did Blake look away from me. I felt my blood heat under his gaze, and felt the sudden urge to lean into him. And then I realized that because of the lie, because of the fact that we were pretending that he was my fiancé, I had the authority to do just that.
It was all part of making it believable, wasn’t it?
That’s what I told myself, anyways. As I brought my hand up to touch his arm, his eyes lit with the touch, the blue of them going electric as he looked from my hand to my face.
“I didn’t tell you earlier,” I said, deliberately keeping my voice low so that he would have to lean closer to me. “But this suit looks amazing on you. We couldn’t match any better if we actually tried.”
“That was all by design, my love.” He purred with a wink, the term of endearment making me blush.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but I was brought up short by the sound of a familiar voice.
“Blake, darling,” my mother called from behind him, and Blake turned around.
I couldn’t see her; Blake’s massive body was between her and me. Which I knew meant that she couldn’t see me either. My heart began to pound so hard I thought it would pop out of my chest as he turned to look at her.
When he did, his shoulders turned for the briefest of moments, clearing the line of sight to my mother. She was dressed in a sparkling, royal blue gown that dipped off her shoulders. Her neck, wrists, and ears were all frosted with diamonds, and everything about her seemed to dazzle as she walked.
Her red lips tugged up in an affectionate smile as she approached Blake, but it faltered the moment her eyes slid off of him and to me.
She stopped walking, a look of confusion flicking across her face as her eyes continuously flicked between me and Blake.
To make sure she put the pieces together, I took a few steps forward, stopping once I was at Blake’s side. I reached down to hold his hand, entwining our fingers as I met and held my mother’s gaze. Just then, my brother appeared right behind her.
Just like she had, his eyes went to Blake first. That made sense since he was the person they were expecting to see, and Jourdan’s face broke into a smile.
But, again, they slid to me, and all of that faltered. His eyes immediately dipped to our hands, and he blanched, seeming to piece it together more quickly than my mom did as he stalked up to us, my mother fast on his heels.
They only stopped when they were a few inches away, and Blake squeezed my hand a little harder.
I could feel his calm, steady strength seeping into me, and I raised my chin to meet my family head-on.
“Mom. Jourdan,” I said, nodding my head in greeting each of them in turn. “I believe you already know my fiancé, Blake.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
