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I cock my head to one side and give him an are-you-kidding-me look. “Because you disappeared as soon as the contract for our marriage agreement was signed. I don’t want to marry a man who doesn’t want me. And then I went to college and things got… complicated.”
“Was there someone else?” he asks quietly, as if he’s afraid of the answer.
I close my eyes. If he’s going to be my husband, he probably deserves the truth about Owen. But I can’t bring myself to say anything. Not yet.
“Was there anyone else for you?” I ask.
Tobias grips his drink. “I’m no virgin, if that’s what you’re asking.”
There was a time in our world that I would have been expected to remain ‘pure’ for my future spouse. Thankfully, those archaic ways of thinking are starting to disappear. Still, I can’t admit to being a sexual submissive with slave-like tendencies for the past five years.
I choose to tease him instead. “Toby, you haven’t been a virgin since that summer you got caught with Savannah Peckham.”
He scowls. “Don’t call me that. I haven’t been Toby for nearly a decade.”
What happened to us? At one time, his natural response would be to tease me right back.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter and reach for my drink again.
“We need to take some pictures for the announcements,” he says, ignoring my apology. “I’m hoping we can at least do that before I leave town.”
***
Tobias
I had no intention of telling my fiancée about my brother tonight. But even when we were young, it was easy to tell Bellamy Harper things. Despite the awkwardness of our first meeting in years, it’s good to realize some things haven’t changed. Her reticence to marry me is understandable. But beyond signing the papers to legally become my wife, I won’t force anything on her. That’s not who I am. Eventually, I’ll win her over.
We finish our drinks, and I stand, offering her my arm. “My driver is waiting to take us to dinner.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Where are we going?”
I smile. “The oldest steakhouse in town.”
Bellamy’s lips part as if she wants to say something in protest, but she thinks better of it and slips elegantly off the barstool and puts her hand through my arm.
When we arrive at Golden Steer Steakhouse, I am unimpressed by the outside. But it’s where Sinatra used to hang out, and many of the staff members have been here for decades. Everyone says it’s the best steakhouse in town. But it’s in an old strip mall, and the outside doesn’t do it justice. If I hadn’t been assured of the quality inside, I might have asked the driver to take us somewhere else.
I help her out of the back of the car, and we enter the restaurant.
The manager is waiting to greet me. “Good evening, Mr. Hunt. We’re ready for you.”
Bellamy glances around the empty dining room. “Did you buy the whole place out?”
When I confirm as much, her cheeks flush, and her fist clenches against my arm. Is she mad? “You didn’t need to do that, Tobias. It must have cost a fortune.”
“And I’ve got fortunes to spend. I wanted to be able to talk freely with you, and I’ve heard good things about this place.”
“And you’re a history buff. That’s the real reason you wanted to come here.”
That she remembers my love of history gives me another flash of hope. I am committed to seeing this wedding through for the good of our families, but I do not wish to be trapped in a miserable marriage.
I pull out her chair and wait for her to sit before I move to my chair and wait for the server to make a show of placing the wine list in front of us.
After perusing the list, I select a bottle. I made our food order before we arrived.
“So how am I supposed to pull off a wedding in three months?” she asks when we’re alone.
“Let my mother take care of most of it. Make a list of what you do and don’t care about, and she can handle anything that isn’t dire.”
