Page 33 of Married to the Beasts
“Among other things.” Conal’s tone is loaded with mystery.
I spend the morning checking in with my mom, sister, and Bliss, reassuring the first two that everything is fine, and trying to avoid giving the third too much detail about my burgeoning sex life, no matter how much she asks.
Between the calls and texts, I try to distract myself from how much I crave the men. They’re becoming an addiction, and it seems to be getting worse every day.
Lucky for me, they’re back upstairs before lunchtime, and I’m dressed and waiting for them.
“Does this look okay?” I gesture to the skirt and blouse I chose for our mystery outing.
Conal gives me a quick kiss. “You look perfect, as always.”
“Thank you. I’m ready when you are. I just need to grab my purse.”
“First, here’s your new phone.” He hands me a box with a brand-new, top-of-the-line model in it. “And this is yours, too.”
I stare at the credit card he’s holding out to me. “Um … thank you,” I say tentatively, taking it.
“You can use that to buy anything you want,” Conal says. “And the driver can take you wherever you need to go, if you want to go shopping.”
“Oh … okay.” It’s not something I see myself doing. They’ve already bought me so many nice clothes, though I suppose I do need to look the part of a rock star’s wife when we go out.
“One more thing,” Conal says. “Do you have a passport?”
I stop in my tracks.“Whereare we having lunch?”
He laughs and kisses me again. “Someplace nearby today, but you never know.”
“I don’t have a passport,” I tell him.
“We’ll have to get one for you, then. I’ll have our assistant start the process.”
Out front, the limo is waiting for us, along with a small part of the security team. On the way to our destination, the guys suggest different types of food, and together we decide on Thai, since it’s been a while since any of us had it.
We pull into the drive for one of the giant resorts on The Strip, but rather than stopping at the mainentrance, the driver pulls up next to an unmarked door. From there, security leads us to a shopping area and straight to the restaurant, where there’s already a table waiting in a corner, behind a screen.
“How did they arrange this so quickly?”
“Our guys are good,” Bron says.
After a delicious lunch where we all share salads, noodle and curry dishes, I expect that we’ll be discreetly led out the way we came, but instead, we head further into the shopping area. The men’s pace seems to indicate that they have a destination in mind, and that turns out to be a very high-end jewelry store.
“It’s time we make things right with your ring situation,” Conal says, taking my hand and leading me straight over to a counter.
“My ring situation?”
He lifts my left hand to look at the diamond and ruby band that I spend a lot of time looking at myself. “We were in a hurry the night we got married,” he says. “I wanted to spend more time getting the engagement ring right, even though we’re doing things out of order.”
“I don’t need another ring. This one is beautiful.”
He kisses my temple. “You do need it, Hazel. I want the world to know you’re mine—ours.”He says the last part in a whisper close to my ear, making my skin flush.
The sales associate welcomes us and offers us champagne, which Conal accepts for both of us. Similar to the expensive clothing store, there aren’t a lot of rings in the display case, but what they do have are beautiful.
As he’s pointing ones out and asking my opinion, clicking sounds and murmuring voices catch my attention.
There are at least half a dozen people at the store’s entrance pointing long camera lenses at us. The security guys are keeping them at a distance, but not making them go away.
“You can ignore them,” Conal says, turning back to the case.
