Page 15 of My Ruthless Husband

Judging by our shopping spree, I have no doubt she’s planning to replace my beige dress with something much bolder.

To answer her question, I give her a sheepish smile before muttering, “Yes?”

She gasps. “That was a question! I’m deeply hurt, River Gibson!” She takes two steps ahead then stops. She looks at me over her shoulder. “Don’t talk to me,” she juts her chin then resumes walking only to stop two seconds later. Turning, she gawks at me. “Wooow, so you’re not even going to stop me?”

I smile as I go to her. “You can’t shut up for even a minute, Summer.” Looping my arm with hers, I haul her toward the elevator.

She opens her mouth and my smile grows.

“Wanna bet?” I raise a brow.

When she furrows her brow, I motion toward the dog carrier bag I am carrying over my shoulders. “If I win, Goldie is mine.”

Her eyes go round. “Keep my pup out of this!”

“There you go.” I turn my head and stare at the cute face panting just beside mine. “You’re mine now.”

“That’s cheating. You can’t bring my son into this. And besides, you shouldn’t rile me up. It’s not helping your case after you just admitted that YOU DON’T TRUST ME!” I wince as we both board the waiting elevator.

“I didn’t say that.” I suppress my smile.

“You so did.” She gives me the stink eye. “Need I remind you, you offered me your apartment which I’m now living in when we first met? To a stranger. You didn’t think twice before handing me the keys back then.”

“That was different,” I say, glancing at Summer. “You needed a place, and I just happened to have a vacant apartment.”

She’s living in the apartment I called home during my college days, a place filled with so many memories. It’s dear to me, and I can’t think of anyone more worthy than my best friend to be here.

“Which you offered to astranger.”

“We weren’t really strangers by then,” I say gently. Her face softens. Then in another breath, “Even so, it’s still weird that you are down to trust me with your apartment but not your clothes.”

“So youareadmitting those flashy dresses and accessories are for me.”

She shakes her head. “Not just for you.” She grins and saunters out as the elevator door opens.

I glance at Goldie with wide eyes. “I’m scared.”

He barks in response, as if agreeing with me, making me laugh.

???

As soon as we enter the apartment, Summer grabs the shopping bags from my hands and vanishes into her room.

A few moments later, she reappears, whips up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and sets it in front of me.

“Eat.” She orders.

“But we had lunch,” I murmur, my cheeks warming as I remember how her worried eyes kept scanning my dark circles and sunken cheeks. A few times, I caught her almost blurting out questions about my appearance, but she held back. Summer has this motherly instinct when it comes to me. She forgets sometimes that I’m a twenty-two-year-old woman—just five years younger than her. She has her own struggles, her own hardships. Yet she never lets them show, always treating me like a child.

Others might find it unusual but for me, it’s everything. Growing up I never really had a friend. Apart from Dad and my governess, no one cared about me. Not even my husband, for whom I left my dad for. So having Summer care for me feels wonderful.

She is an orphan. Apart from his foster brother, Raleigh, she had no one in her corner. But now she has me. We both provide emotional support to each other. Which leads her to sometime lecturing me about my habit of skipping meals. Like right now.

“And when was that?”

“About an hour ago.”

“That means you need to eat.”

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