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“When did you two officially start dating?” he asks.
“Just under two years ago,” I lie.
“Wow,” Cathy exclaims as her eyes bounce between us. “You two are the definition of‘when you know, you know.’”
Welcome back, awkwardness. Long time no feel.
Between Bill and Cathy, I can already tell that she’s the one I think we have to watch out for. Maybe it’s just my guilty conscience but I am starting to feel like she’s already onto us.
“I certainly knew alright,” Marc replies to Cathy.
My stomach flutters and I can’t help the smile that comes to my face.
It’s not a forced smile to show that we’re happy, this smile comes naturally and without thought. Becausehesaid it about me.
“Right back at ya, babe.” I lean into him and rest the side of my head on his shoulder.
The world was already moving slowly around me, the way it always does when he’s this close to me, but it stops the second I feel his lips connect with the top of my head for a brief kiss.
It was quick.
Like he does it every day.
But that one small kiss felt like… everything.
For a brief moment, I want to live in that feeling. Frozen in time with a feeling so foreign to me but feels so damn right. It felt like he was silently communicating the words he repeated to me in his office…I got you.
“Come sit,” Cathy announces, popping the Marc Ford bubble I keep finding myself trapped in. “Dinner is ready, you two love birds.”
Marc and I sit next to each other while Bill and Cathy sit across from us. The same way two couples would if they were on a double date.
That’s when I realize, this is about to become a game of twenty-one questions. I feel like I’m going to need stronger alcohol for this.
“So, Avery,” Bill starts. “What do you do for work?”
I know from talking with Marc that Bill has no idea that I’m his assistant. I was really only there for a short period of time before I took the month off after we lost Gigi, which led to months off to take care of my mom.
“I work as an assistant right now.” I don’t lie about that. “But I’m hoping to attend a real estate course soon and become an agent.”
“No way.” Bill grins from ear to ear as he passes dinner rolls to Cathy. “Marc, did you know that Cathy and I met as agents? Back in the day, we were the power couple of the city!”
“I had no idea.” Marc smiles. “I can see how everyone would call you that. You two have done a great job with Prestige Horizons.”
“I am certainly very proud of what we have built together. The company means the world to me. But I must say…” He pauses his thoughts to make sure Marc is watching him. “I’m even more excited for the future of the company and where it’s going to go.”
I continue to butter my roll, but my eyes discreetly scan to the side to watch Marc's reaction to that statement, without making it known that I’m looking for his reaction. As an outsider looking into this conversation, you would think that Bill just handed him the company right then and there.
But Marc's demeanor shifts to nervousness, and I watch as his body tenses next to me. I know how bad he wants this.
His hands find his thighs as he rubs his probably sweaty palms on his dress pants.
I place a hand on his thigh to help ease the unwanted feeling that I can tell fills his body. His muscular thigh tense up under my unexpected touch at the same time that he takes a sip of the whiskey.
I got you.
His hand finds the top of mine under the table. He gives me three small pulses, signaling that we’re both on the same page.
“But let’s not talk shop.” Bill claps. “Tell us about the wedding!”
