Page 59 of Fierce King (L.A. Ruthless 1)

Alana

I lookedup at Alejandro as we waited in the elevator. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo, and his amorous affections in the car on the way here had me a trembling, hot mess. It was a pity we had to go to the awards dinner.

The elevator stopped at our floor and we stepped out, and right into two blonde Amazonian goddesses. I swear I had never seen two more beautiful women in my life.

I sensed Alejandro tense beside me and he stepped forward, partially shielding me from their view.

‘Alejandro,’ the slightly taller one said as she turned and caught his eye. ‘We’ve been wondering where you were.’ Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on each cheek. The second one did the same while I stood there looking and feeling like a Z-list extra at an A lister’s movie premiere.

Alejandro turned and placed his hand on the small of my back. ‘Ladies, this is my wife, Alana,’ he said and I held out my hand in greeting.

They both looked at my outstretched hand and then at me as though I was something that was stuck to the bottom of their Jimmy Choos. I let my arm fall to my side and willed the ground to swallow me whole.

‘Alana, this is Keira,’ he indicated the taller one. ‘And Michaela.’

They gave me a half assed, fake smile and then turned their attention back to my husband. ‘So, where have you been, Alejandro?’ Michaela purred as she placed her hand on his arm. ‘We’ve missed you.’

He cleared his throat and then checked his watch. ‘This thing is about to start, and I think I’m needed on stage,’ he said as he walked past them, pulling me along behind him.

‘Who were those women?’ I asked as we walked towards the conference suite.

‘No-one important,’ he said dismissively.

I stopped in my tracks, causing him to stop too, and he turned to me and sighed in frustration. ‘What?’ he snapped.

‘Are they your ex-girlfriends?’ I asked him. They looked just like some of the women I’d seen him in magazines with – impossibly skinny, tall, blonde and beautiful.

‘I dated them both for a few weeks, that’s all.’

‘At the same time?’

‘Yes!’ he growled.

Jesus! He dated those two goddesses at the same time? Just how much woman did one man need? ‘How many weeks is a few?’ I asked.

He bent his head so his face was close to mine. ‘I have a past, Alana. I’ve dated plenty of women, and we are going to run into them occasionally. But they are in my past. So, please stop acting like a spoiled child and behave yourself.’

I glared at him. He knew that accusing me of acting like a spoiled child would push my buttons, and now I had to behave or I would risk having him say he was proven right.

‘Fine. Let’s go,’ I said and plastered a fake smile on my face.

The awards dinner had turned out to be quite entertaining. Alejandro and I were sitting on a table with the mayor and his wife as well as some of the senior council officials and I had enjoyed talking all things politics with them.

Alejandro had joined in too. His knowledge of the inner workings of the L.A machine was impressive and I found myself having a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Alejandro was charming and funny and he had these people eating out of the palm of his hand. I was having such a good time that I’d almost forgotten about the way his ex-girlfriends had looked at me earlier.

I’d excused myself to use the powder room and was sitting in one of the stalls when I heard their voices.

‘Oh, my God, can you believe Alejandro married that?’ one of them said.

‘I know,’ the other one replied. ‘I saw her in that magazine article and thought they must have caught her at a bad angle, but nope – she’s just fat,’ she said and the two of them burst out laughing.

I choked down a sob, not wanting to alert either of them to the fact that I was there.

‘He is sooo out of her league. Have you seen how she’s squeezed herself into that ridiculous dress? What the hell was he thinking?’

More laughter.

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