Page 47 of Attached At Heart
“Oh, so we’re doing this to save your bruised ego?”
His dark eyes cut to mine, crinkling around the edges. “You know how important my ego is to me, Delaney.”
“As much as Idoknow, we can’t just go to the Netherlands.”
“Why not?” he pushed.
But I didn’t really have an answer for that outside of the responsible ones I knew he was likely expecting. Answers that revolved around work. And I didn’t really need to add any more fuel to the fire surrounding Blake’s belief that I was a workaholic, considering he’d already brought it up multiple times in this conversation.
“Because that’s just…that’s just silly.”Wow, great. That was probably the worst reasoning I could have given, but it was also true, right? This wasridiculous. “And you and I don’t do silly things.”
“We did just get married on a whim.”
Fuck.
“Well, that’s…that’s different. It wasn’t entirely a whim. I’d been planning for it. To an extent.” I was losing this argument and fast. “Also I have a…thing coming up I can’t miss.”
“Athing,” Blake repeated. He raised a brow. “Tell me about this thing, Lane.”
“A benefit thing.” I cleared my throat. “One of the hospital’s biggest donors is hosting. You know, the usual.”
“Sounds very important,” he said, his tone both serious and mocking at the same time.
I elbowed him because he deserved it. “I have to make an appearance, you know that. I can’t miss things like this when I just started. And I especially can’t unexpectedly take time offandmiss something like this all in one week.”
He nodded, and I knew he understood, even if he wanted to give me shit about it. “When is it?”
“Thursday.”
“Then we’ll leave after Thursday.”
“Blake,” I groaned, exasperated. But my heart wasn’t really in it. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if a fake honeymoon would be so bad.
On principle, I knew that I shouldn’t let it happen.
But the tiniest part of me was aching to just give in. To stop and smell some fucking flowers—for just once. I shouldn’t. Ireallyshouldn’t, but…
“I think doing more silly things is exactly what we need,” Blake cut into my thoughts.
I shook my head because I knew it was hopeless at this point.
“Thisisan intervention, isn’t it?”
“It’s whatever you want it to be, Lane.” He grinned, and there was something electric about it. His expression was animated in a way I wasn’t entirely used to. He wasexcited. He reallydidwant to go on this trip. And if there was anything I could get onboard with, it was giving Blake something he wanted. “But we’re going,” he added, and the finality of his words sealed the deal.
“Okay, Blake.” There was no denying it at this point. “We’re going.”
But first, I had to figure out how to get the time off for it, and then I had to survive my first fundraising event at work.
Sighing, I braced myself for the week ahead.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
delaney
IFIDGETED WITH THE scalloped neckline of my familiar black dress, feeling uncomfortable in my own skin.
It had nothing to do with the dress and everything to do with tonight’s event. I hated these sorts of affairs, which felt like a parade of wealth—exactly the sort of thing that I hated from my childhood. I went into medicine to make a difference with my mind, not with my bank account, and I didn’t like the reminder that my hard work truly meant nothing without money, without funding, without financial backing.
