Page 70 of One Wealthy Wedding

I do. I very much do. Fuck.

I escape to my room later and change out of the clothes I sweated in while driving. It was worse than I thought, because the car kept leaping and jumping under me every time I touched the gas.

I need to avoid Theo for at least twenty-four hours. That shouldn’t be difficult. It’s a Saturday. He’ll go out tonight. And I’ll get to be alone in blessed silence, to read on his stupidly comfortable marshmallow couch and eat the chocolate mousse he keeps in the fridge. He’s getting ready now. Probably for a party. The shower is running. Oh god.

I bury myself in my closet and focus on unraveling the knitting project I was working on. I miscalculated how much yarn I have. I bought extra, and now I can make another sweater instead of a scarf. I hate knitting scarves. If you have one, you have a hundred. The knitting needles are my favorites, and I think wistfully back to the craft room I had at Rockwood. The bolts of fabric in every color, the dress form, the cashmere yarn. I made little wisps of garments out of silk organza in pale pink, delicate sweaters edged with lace I created myself. It didn’t even matter that I was alone a lot of the time, because I was in my happy place. I miss it.

No. I rip the yarn with a little more force than necessary. Freedom is far more important than luxury. It’s the hundredth time I’ve reminded myself. I hate that I still need to be told.

I wait until I hear Theo bang out of his bedroom before I creep downstairs to the living room. I find an open bottle of wine in the fridge and a pot of chocolate mousse. I’m armed with a book and my project.

Perfect. I settle into the squishy couch and lay my supplies out around me. Now this is a Saturday night.

I sigh happily and text a picture to Blair and Lane.

Lane sends back a selfie of her and Miles at dinner. I press the live photo, and it moves. Miles looks at Lane, love evident in his softly smiling mouth and his gaze on her, before he turns to the camera. She’s oblivious to his perusal, because of course she is.

I knew at the wedding we all attended that he was in love with her, and it was only a matter of time before she fell back in love with him.

Sadness pings inside me, and I shake it away. I’m happy doing this. Loneliness creeps up when you’re forced into being alone. I’m choosing to be alone. There’s a difference.

I focus on the book Lane lent me. It’s some monstrously entertaining alien romance, about a human and the alien warlord she’s forced to marry. It’s just getting to a juicy part when I hear “What’s that you’re reading?”

I yelp and press a hand to my racing heart. “What the hell?”

Theo is striding into the living room, looking good enough to lick in a black sweater and black jeans.

“Why are you dressed like you only recently got kicked out of hell?” I ask.

“This is my going-out outfit,” he says, looking down at his clothes.

“Lucifer lets you out to play now and then?”

He winks. “I’d rule hell, and you know it.”

I roll my eyes. “Why are you here?”

“I went to bring something to Cole’s. He’s boring and didn’t want to get drinks. Did you think you’d gotten rid of me?” His mouth tips up as he scans my supplies. “Looks like you found the chocolate mousse. And what’s that?” His gaze sharpens on my e-reader, where the cover of the book is displayed. It’s a hulking alien with muscles and horns.

“Nothing,” I say. “Just having a night in.” I flip the e-reader closed.

“Oh no.” He stalks forward. “Give it here.”

“No.” I tuck it under the blanket. “You don’t need to see that.”

“Oh, I think I do.” His eyes are glinting. “You’re eating my last mousse, sitting on my couch. This is a fair trade.”

“You’re going to make fun of it.”

He stops in front of the couch. “Why would I do that?”

“Because men always do,” I say quietly.

“I won’t.” He holds out his hand. “We’re supposed to be getting to know each other.”

I trusted Theo once. He betrayed me.

But something in his steady gaze, his deep voice, makes me pass him the e-reader, even as my pulse skips. “It’s at a spicy part. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

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