Page 49 of Crying Shame
It was nice that he'd made a friend. Elon and Arman walked in front of Maddie and me at the festival. Maddie linked arms with me. She had light-brown hair and a bright smile. “I’m so happy you’re back. Arman’s family was missing you.”
My gaze strayed to Elon. I half wanted to go back to last night when I'd had an orgasm while he held me. I’d convinced myself my memories of how good it had been between us were wrong, but last night he proved he could still send pleasure coursing through me.
I forced myself to focus on Maddie and smiled. “I’m sure they missed you, too, but it’s good to talk now. There were so many people at the house last night.”
She playfully bumped into me. “So now we get to catch up.”
Elon turned and nodded at me. For a moment, I imagined only the two of us had come to the festival.
I sucked in my lips, banished the thought, and asked Maddie, “So when did you come back to Virgin Cove after you left to get married… in Minnesota?”
Sam and Aurora jumped on a ride.
“Last spring,” Maddie said.
“You’re kidding. It seemed like you and Arman have been together for years.”
Maddie shook her head, and we watched our kids from the sidelines. “Nope.”
“Wow.”
Arman and Elon were in deep conversation.
I said, “You two seem like no time has passed at all.”
The ride ended, and our children rushed to get off and race to the next one. We followed them.
“I do wish I’d come back sooner, which I’m sure is the same way you feel," Maddie said. "Honestly, I had a hard time accepting the dream life of a Norouzi.”
Now that was an apt description of the Norouzis. Elon was here with me because he wanted to be but had the ability to be anywhere in the world, doing anything.
I caught Elon staring at me. Heat rushed through me. “How did you overcome that?” I asked Maddie.
“Arman is the only man who's ever had my heart. The money doesn’t matter.”
Arman had clearly been in love with her for a long time. I remembered his brothers, including Elon, sharing a picture of a heart Maddie had drawn for Arman. All the brothers had giggled and teasingly declared Arman was in love.
Elon and I, on the other hand, had kept our relationship private.
I feared that Elon and I weren’t on the same path and that he was depending upon his trillions to impress me, Sam, and everyone else. I sighed. “That’s a good reason.”
We strolled as we followed the kids.
“Arman had no clue," Maddie said, "but I noticed those longing glances you threw Elon’s way over the summers when we were kids. How is the reunion going?”
She had no idea what a disaster I was. “He’s… wonderful.”
Maddie patted my arm. “That’s nice but hard to figure out. Arman’s expression when he realized Elon had impregnated you was pretty priceless.”
Had that been because I was never going to look like a model? I wasn’t that horrible to look at, however, even though I'd had to cake on the makeup when I played a princess at the theme park. I almost couldn’t breathe when I asked, “Why?”
Maddie smiled brightly. “Because you were the dream girl for half his brothers, and not one of them guessed about the two of you.”
Her version of the past couldn't be true. No one had ever seen me that way. I shook my head. “I’m no one’s dream.”
Our kids raced forward. We continued walking.
“I was there too," Maddie said. "I know what I saw.”
