Page 65 of My Silver Lining

“Well, she doesn’t really know my father, so I’m not sure how she can help,” Chloe growled, and Joseph laughed some more and made a hissing-cat sound in response.

“He talks about your father every night before we get into bed. I feel like I’ve known you for years, Joseph,” Lulu purred, and Chloe glared at her.

No doubt my woman could handle herself just fine, but I still felt protective of her.

Lulu Sonnet was fierce and strong, but I’d seen the vulnerable woman beneath, and I felt lucky that she’d shown me both sides.

“We’ll be just fine. We’re going to go find our table and put a few thoughts together,” I said.

“You’re sitting at the head table with us.” Chloe winked at me. “After all, Daddy thinks of you as family.”

Lucky fucking me.

We excused ourselves as dread filled me.

I couldn’t think of a table I’d rather not be sitting at more.

There was a table with a bunch of people from the office, and they were waving me over, and I was bummed we weren’t seated with them.

“She’s a real piece of work,” Lulu said, keeping her voice low as she placed her free hand in mine.

I nodded and led her to where my coworkers were and introduced her to everyone.

“I saw your photos on the internet. You’re kind of Instagram-famous now, Chadwick. I’m not even going to tell you off right now for keeping the fact that you’re datingtheLulu Sonneta secret from me.” Clara was my executive assistant, and she turned to look at Lulu and shook her wrist to show off the three bracelets there before shaking her hand. “I’m Clara. I’m the big guy’s assistant, and I’m a huge fan of your jewelry.”

“Oh, wow. Thank you so much. That means the world to me. It’s so lovely to meet you.”

“How did demon Barbie take the news of your relationship?” Clara leaned close so only Lulu and I could hear her as she referenced Joseph’s daughter. Chloe had a reputation at the office for her bratty behavior when she’d come to visit her father.

“Exactly as expected.” I pulled my glass to my lips.

“Hey, boss,” Caleb said. He was new to the team this last year and a cool dude. “Is this your lady?”

I smirked because I kind of loved how nervous everyone was about meeting her.

“Yes. This is Lulu,” I said. I went around the table, and they each came over and shook her hand and gushed over her a bit.

“I see you aren’t sitting with us,” Clara said, glancing at the table in the front.

“Yeah, we just heard we wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“But we can come sneak over a lot,” Lulu said as she took a sip of her drink.

“I like this girl,” Caleb said, and then his cheeks flamed when I raised a brow at him. “Not like that. Well, I mean, not that you aren’t attractive. Shit, you’re fucking gorgeous. I just meant?—”

“Okay. We’re cutting this young buck off the piña coladas,” Clara said, and the table erupted in laughter.

“I know what you meant. I like this girl, too,” I said, before giving them a nod and letting them know we were going to head to our seats.

We were the only ones at the head table as we found our name tags, and I didn’t miss the fact that Chloe had been seated on the other side of me.

Lulu tracked the direction I was looking, and she leaned close to me once we were sitting, her lips grazing my ear, which was a direct shot to my dick. “Well, you’ve got to give her credit for her tenacity. It’s obvious you aren’t interested in her that way.”

“Yeah. I’ve made it clear multiple times. And I usually just brush off her behavior, but tonight, it feels disrespectful to you, and that shit pisses me off,” I said, pulling my phone out of my coat pocket to type up a few notes for the speech.

“Rafe, it’s not like we’re together,” she whispered. “This is a big night for you. Your boss chose you to speak on his behalf. He sat you at his table. That’s a compliment to how much he likes you.”

“I don’t care if this is real or fake,” I said, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “They don’t fucking know that. It was unkind to do that to you, and that does not sit well with me. I’m also quite certain that his daughter demanded I be at this table and that I give a speech alongside her. He and I are not that close.”

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