Page 52 of Made For You
Geez, how quick did she set this up?
I stood there on the porch in awe, watching the retreating taillights. She’d left me here. Not just on her porch, or at her home, but alone in a town where I knew no one.
Slinking back inside with my shoulders hunched, I stalked over to her kitchen and opened the fridge. I was surprised to find a few beers inside. Popping the top off a Stella, I took a hearty sip. I hadn’t had the fizzy beverage in a while, usually opting for something stronger so I could relax more quickly.
I stepped over all the random items in her living room and sat on the couch, surprised to find a piece of paper with a picture from a magazine sitting on her coffee table. I examined it closely and realized she was trying to recreate the image in her own space. It was a little busy for the smaller wall, but I could see where she was going with it. Redesigning spaces was one of my favorite parts of the hotel renovations. We had a team who worked on the specifics, but I made sure they followed my vision.
Tossing the paper back on the table, I looked at the wall again. As the setting sun began to disappear behind the mountains, the shadows showed a slight discoloration in the ivory paint. At one point, she must’ve had large picture frames hanging in the room.
During a quick tour her mother gave me after dinner, she caught me admiring a few images on a wall in the dark office. The Easterly matriarch seemed sad when she mentioned they were photographs Aurora had taken when she was in school. To the untrained eye, they were simply just pictures, but to someone who examined art and photographs as part of my job when picking what to showcase in the hotel, I could see the skill Aurora possessed.
The longer I sat, the longer I pondered if these frame outlines were from images she had taken.
Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I quickly typed a message out to Olive and asked her to send a package overnight to Aurora’s address. My assistant still wasn’t in the know about the quicky wedding, but she had grown suspicious at my disappearance and undisclosed return date.
Finishing the beer, I looked around the room for a television but found none. Not that I watched TV often, but I was surprised Aurora didn’t have one. What she did have were three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in a small room acrossfrom her bedroom. The bookshelves were completely filled with books, and as I looked closer at the spines, they were all romance novels. Some of them seemed tame, but then others left me wondering what kind of porn Aurora had been watching several hours ago when I arrived.
An hour passed, and despite my better judgement, I’d fallen victim to a small-town romance I struggled to put down. I was rooting for the underdog in the story—the lifelong friend—and not the billionaire who swooped in and caught the main female character’s eye. Just the thought of Aurora catching someone else’s eye made mine twitch.
With an idea in mind, I quickly sent Dean a message, and he immediately responded.
Dean: No
Me: Fuck you!
As I waited for his follow-up, I changed out of my casual clothes and put on the suit I wore the night I met Aurora at the bar. She may not have said the words, but after years of having women sexually pine over me with their eyes, I knew she liked what she’d seen.
When I was fitted for it in London, the tailor referred to the suit as “bespoke.” It fit my body like a glove. I guessed it was worth the ten grand it cost to have it custom-made.
Dean still hadn’t replied by the time I slid my feet into my dress shoes. I looked myself over in the mirror Aurora had propped in the corner of her bedroom. The suit was my armor, and I was ready for battle. No one was going to look at what was mine while I had her, even if itwasall just a ploy.
Me: Still waiting.
I left the house, locking up with the key Dean made, but not before I gave some love to Draco, who had come out of hiding for a second when I clicked off the bedroom light.
Dean: Asshole. She’s at a place called Ole Days.
Me: Thanks
Dean: You owe me.
Me: Nope
Message bubbles kept popping up and then disappearing as I started the car. I plugged the name of the location into the GPS. Was it an invasion of privacy to keep track of Aurora? Probably, but I also didn’t care. With our marriage, her safety was going to be my top priority.
Dean: How did you lose your wife already?
Me: We had a fight. She left.
Dean: She won’t answer your call?
Me: I know better than to try.
Dean: Better get her before someone else does.
Leave it to Dean to know exactly what I feared. I had no idea how Aurora hadn’t been snatched up already. I supposed she had been for a while. At least twice. And both of those idiots had broken it off withher. I couldn’t understand it.
As the car purred to life and I pulled the Ferrari onto the street, my screen flashed with a call from Dean. I pressed the button that would allow his voice to play through the speakers.
