AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Three days after what has to be the most absurd proposal, I sit in the backseat of a chauffeured car, next to my new husband. We’re attending a business dinner with a business owner who’s been holding out on the sale of his company.
I stare at diamond ring and white gold wedding band on my left ring finger. They feel suffocating.
“Proof,” Kyle says, looking straight ahead as he hands me something. He’s barely spoken more than five sentences to me since we recited marriage vows two days ago. Our marriage took place in a judge’s chambers, after hours.
Our witnesses were one very large security guard Kyle referred to as his Uncle Brutus, and another security guard named Ron. Both men barely looked at me.
“What’s this?”
He doesn’t answer beyond gesturing his head toward the file. I take that as him telling me to open it.
I do to see more pictures of the campus of Eve’s school.
“The man on the right in the first picture is one of mine.”
I flip to the following picture. This one is from inside of Eve’s dorm, on her floor.
“The other one has been given a room directly next to hers. He can easily access her room if he needs. She won’t know he’s there.”
“How?” These guys don’t look particularly inconspicuous to me.
That’s when Kyle turns his head in my direction. “They know what they’re doing.” His tone is clipped, as if he doesn’t want to expend more breath on me than necessary.
Again, I peer down at the rings on my finger. I twist them around and around. A habit I picked up in the past two days. This is not how I ever dreamt of getting married. Hell, I never dreamed of marriage. I wasn’t one of those girls who thought I’d ever meet my Prince Charming and fall in love.
“She’ll remain safe as long as you keep up your end of the deal.”
“I married you, didn’t I?”
“That’s just part of our agreement. Did you memorize the name of tonight’s guest of honor?” he asks.
“Todd Smith. Owner and President of Righteous Corp. Its major business is the medical services app, Righteous. He developed the app with his best friend who recently died from pancreatic cancer. Acquiring the app would allow Townsend to partner it with Waterson’s Medical Supplies company to streamline your healthcare services.”
If Todd agrees to a partnership with Townsend, it would grow their market share by double digits before the year is over.
“Did I get all of that right?” I give him a smug smile because I know I did.
“Read his body language or whatever it is you do to figure out why he’s holding out. And don’t fuck it up,” he says before the driver opens his car door and he steps out.
I let myself out of the car, then smooth down the sides of the long, black dress Kyle had delivered to my home today. Admittedly, the dress is beautiful and fits me perfectly. He’s nothing if not detail oriented.
Kyle moves beside me and looks me over. His eyes pause, lingering on my lips. They narrow. He appears as if he’s truly looking at me for the first time tonight.
“Why are you wearing that color?” he asks. His jaw is rigid.
I touch my bottom lip. “What? Oh, it’s my favorite,” I say of the Ruby Red lipstick I opted to wear tonight.
“Take it off.” He’s doing that low growl, rumbly voice thing he does so well.
“Why?”
A muscle in his jaw tightens. “Remove it.”
“Is it smudged or something?”
“It’s not appropriate. Let’s go.” He doesn’t let me respond before he takes me by the elbow into the restaurant.
“Welcome, Mr. Townsend,” the hostess greets with a warm, professional smile.
