Page 17 of Accidental Attraction

Ever since our engagement photos, Jenna and I had become closer. I was tired of acting rude toward her. Seeing her look at me with her doe-like blue eyes made it hard for me to be mean toward her. She didn’t know how hard she was to resist. Yes, I had only known her for almost a month now, but she had gotten her claws inside of me. Everything she did was intoxicating to me. It literally was taking everything inside of me not to grab her and kiss the shit out of her.

With a groan at my thoughts, I stood up and headed to my room to take a cold shower. I could not go to the Benefit feeling like this. While Jenna got ready, I showered and slowly got ready myself, mentally playing out the Benefit the entire time. I wanted everything to go smoothly for Jenna and not let her get too overwhelmed. This was her first big event, and I knew how stressful and nerve-wracking it could be. When I was in high school and first started attending these with my father and mother, I was nervous about acting stupid in front of very important people or doing something that could hurt my family’s company’s reputation. But after attending so many events, I was now a pro and knew what to expect. The same people always went, so it would be no surprise to me.

All week Lennon had been teaching Jenna about everyone that was going to be there, and I was very impressed by how fast Jenna learned their names and businesses. When I first met Jenna in that sleazy strip club, I was actually considering taking back picking her. The whole week before I had spoken to her I had Matt, my driver, go to the club to scout out a girl. I knew going to a strip club was not the greatest choice, but I also knew the women there would be more likely to say yes because they needed the money. When Matt came back to me, he told me about this girl that looked young and seemed kind of feisty. He described Jenna to me, and for some odd reason, it made me want to go to the club and see her. So I did.

For three days, I went the club and watched Jenna from afar as she worked. Something about her sparked my interest. If she was some rich daddy’s girl, she did a good job of hiding it. After seeing her the final night, I knew I would pick her. Maybe because she seemed like an easy target or that her innocence dragged me in, but I wanted her to say yes to my deal.

Now, a month later, we actually liked each other and were doing pretty well with our deal. Yes, she blabbed to her driver Garrett about our deal and it got out to the press, but I wasn’t as angry as I thought I’d be. I mean, when I found out it was him that night, all I saw was red, but I wasn’t mad at Jenna. Later, after I snapped at her, I felt guilty and wallowed in my bedroom the rest of the night. And I was glad that Garrett kid was out of the picture. I knew I wasn’t around much, but I could tell the kid was taking a liking to her. He looked at her with lust in his eyes, something that Jenna was oblivious to. I hadn’t known it then, but I was jealous that he was spending time with her and not me. He took her to get paint for the room and offered to help her. The day we “painted” the room was one of the best days I’d had in years.

I was so caught up in my thoughts I hadn’t realized the time until I glanced over at my bedside table. We had thirty minutes to get there. When I say we had thirty minutes to be there, I meant thirty minutes so we could be fashionably late. It was better if we showed up later than others; that was what my father always told me. It showed people that you had other things you were doing or could be doing instead of being there. Plus it was our company hosting the event, so I could show up whenever I wanted.

Needing to get dressed, I quickly pulled on a crisp white button-up shirt and a pair of black dress pants. A few minutes ago Lennon had texted me saying Jenna was wearing a red dress, so I picked out a red tie to match. After tightening that on, I pulled on a black suit jacket before fixing my hair. Seeing that I looked good, I nodded at my reflection and grabbed the present I had gotten Jenna and left my room. Earlier in the week I had been driving by a jewelry shop on the way to work, and when I stopped at a red light I looked over. I could barely make anything out in the window, but something sparkling caught my attention. Instead of heading to work, I turned around and went to the store. A few minutes later I walked out with a beautiful yet simple heart necklace. It screamed “Jenna” to me, and I knew I had to get it.

When I came to a stop in front of her room, I straightened my tie and felt my pockets to make sure I had everything I needed for tonight. With one last deep breath, I knocked on the door and waited to be let in. I did not want to just barge in and get yelled at by Lennon. A second later, it was opened by the devil herself. I took a step inside and immediately froze. Jenna looked absolutely breathtaking. Even dressed in a simple strapless red dress she looked stunning. Her long blonde hair fell around her face, and her green eyes stared back at me. I could feel her eyes looking over me, and I was clearly doing the same. She looked better than I imagined.

“Would you two stop eye-raping each other? You need to get going,” Lennon snapped at us, making my gaze break away from Jenna. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my mind.

“Jenna, you…uh, you look great.” I stumbled over my words. Mentally, I slapped myself at how stupid I sounded. I’d never gotten flustered over a woman before.

“Thank you.” She blushed, ducking her head down. I could see her cheeks turning a light pink.

“I got you something,” I said, walking toward her. Her head snapped up in surprise. “Turn around.” She did as I asked. Taking the necklace out of its case, I brought it down over her head and let it lay above her heart. After shutting the clasp, I briefly let my fingers rub the base of her neck before stepping away from her. I didn’t want to do something stupid.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Thank you.” Jenna turned to face me.

“It looks perfect on you.” The necklace did look great on her. Hell, everything looked great on her. She could wear a pair of sweats to the Benefit and I would think she looked amazing.

“Horny birds, let’s go,” Lennon said and coughed loudly. I forced myself to take my eyes off of Jenna and held my arm out for her to take. I smiled as she laced her arm through mine. As we walked away, I looked over my shoulder and mouthed a “thank you” to Lennon before leading Jenna to the front of the house and to the limo waiting for us. I watched from the corner of my eye as Jenna nervously played with her fingers. I knew she was worried and didn’t really know what to say or do. It had been a long time since I had comforted a woman who wasn’t my mother, my sister, or Lennon.

“Jenna, you are going to do great. Just ignore what anyone says,” I said as I felt the car slow down. “I will be by your side the entire time.” I shot her a smile, hoping to calm her nerves. I laid one of my hands on top of hers, squeezing it softly. “Just breathe, Jenna,” I said softly into her ear. Giving her a nod and an encouraging smile, I slid out of the car as the driver opened the door for me. Immediately I was swarmed with flashing lights and yells from the paparazzi. Turning around, I held out my hand for Jenna. She got out of the car and looked shocked as the lights flashed like crazy.

I gripped her hand and led her past the paparazzi, and the entire time they were yelling at us for interviews. I felt Jenna grip my hand tighter, and I returned the gesture. It had never been this bad before, but then again, she was my fiancé. Not just some girl.

“Almost there,” I whispered down at her when we were about halfway there. The walk to the entrance of the building had never felt this long before. Thankfully, though, a minute later we passed the last of the cameras and walked into the building. The moment the flashing went away, Jenna sighed and leaned against me. I smiled softly down at her, liking the feeling of her pressed against me.

“You did good, Jenna,” I said, grinning. She grinned back at me, and my heart thudded. Her smile never failed to make me feel better or make my heart beat faster. I squeezed her hand reassuringly as we made our way into the room. I felt everyone’s gaze on us and had to hold back a glare. They needed to mind their own damn business. Looking over at Jenna, I felt a sense of pride as she walked beside me with her head held high. That’s my girl.

As we walked around, I noticed Jenna was wondering what it was all for. After explaining to her it was for a good cause, we continued on our way. Occasionally I nodded at a few men as we walked around. I did notice a lot of them were staring at Jenna, and it made me want to clench her to my side, letting them know she was mine.

“Liam Stanford! It is great to see you again,” a familiar, booming voice said. Looking over toward the sound, I let myself smile as I saw an old family friend.

“Kenneth, it is nice to see you as well,” I said once we came to a stop in front of him. I shook his hand. Kenneth was literally like a walking Santa. He was nice, loud, and could be called jolly. He was one of the nicest people I had ever met here at these parties.

“And this must be your fiancé. Hello, love, I am Kenneth Poltz,” he said, turning to Jenna. She returned his greeting kindly.

“Wow, she is a pretty little thing. Good catch, boy.” Kenneth smacked my shoulder roughly. I swallowed a grunt. That man might be kind of big, but he could hit hard. “Honey, come meet Liam’s fiancé,” he shot over his shoulder. Moving to the side, he revealed his beautiful, tall wife, Maria. Maria was practically the only wife here who was not stuck up and looked at everyone like they were gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

“Kenneth owns one of the biggest stores in America,” I said to Jenna, although I knew she probably already knew that.

“That is impressive,” she said, smiling at both Kenneth and Maria. Before they could say anything, I heard my name being called from my right.

“I’m sorry, but my fiancé and I better go and see some other people. We will be back to talk, Kenneth and Maria,” I said regretfully. If I had a choice, I would rather stay here with them than go and greet others.

“Don’t worry, boy, we aren’t going anywhere. We want to learn more about your lovely girl.” Kenneth grinned at Jenna, which made his wife roll her eyes. I chuckled, knowing he meant nothing by it.

For the next hour or so, I tugged Jenna along beside me as we went from group to group, saying hello to everyone. Since I was going to take over the company, it was my duty to make sure to say hello to everyone and ask how their families were. It was very tiring and boring, honestly. I had to hold back a proud grin as Jenna talked back to one of a beneficiary’s wife after she made it known she didn’t like Jenna. When Jenna wanted to be, she could be a little fire-cracker. That was something I was starting to love about her. As we walked toward another group, I felt a soft tug on my hand followed by the sound of Jenna’s voice.

“Um, Liam.”

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