Page 17 of Bound to Him

It was Huxley Moretti.

He stood calmly, quietly, watching me. I could now see his angular face, his combed-over hair, his full, kissable lips. Suddenly, I had no idea what to say or how to even breathe.

9

Huxley

The Romano annual party. Personally, I’d never been to one, since they’d always been rivals of ours. It was entirely new territory for me to be attending an event hosted by them, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I did know, however, was that I was excited to see Olivia again. I truly hoped that this time she would be in the same room as me, maybe even get an introduction. I was dying to know what her voice sounded like. Or what she smelled like.

Antonio and Mia seemed to fit right in, mingling with business associates that we shared with the Romanos. Fiona refused to join us, for whatever teenage reason. When we arrived, I was immediately pointed in the direction of Viola, who seemed to be bored out of her mind in the corner of the room. Doing my duty as her fiancé, I grabbed two champagne flutes and sat down next to her.

“Champagne?”

Her eyes lifted, showing only the slightest hint of an eye roll before seemingly sighing with relief. “Yes, thank you. I needed that.” She took a long, satisfying gulp before resting the flute on her leg and looking at me. “Well, to be honest, you look like you hate this just as much as I do.”

I chuckled, looking over the crowded room. “I really do.”

We sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a few minutes before she turned her head toward me again. “Tony told me some things about you.”

“I’m sure he has.”

“He doesn’t like you much.”

“The feeling is mutual.” I finally met her gaze, giving her a side smile. She nodded, clearly satisfied with my honesty.

“You don’t try very hard, do you?” she asked.

“Try what?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know… to woo me? Charm me?”

“Do I need to?”

“Well…” She looked away, clearly not having considered that I didn’t intend to impress her.

“We don’t exactly have a choice here, Viola. I could try to ‘woo’ you, but I can already see I’m locked out of your good books. Why that is, I’m not too sure. Could be Tony’s influence, could be that you think I’m buttfucking ugly, or it could be that you love someone else.” I shrugged as well. “Either way, I’m not the type to crawl after a woman.”

Her chin lifted slightly as she thought her next words over. “Well, Tony might be sad to know he has no influence over me or my decisions, whatsoever. I don’t think you’re ugly, necessarily.” Her bottom lip curved up, giving me a ‘meh’ expression and making me chuckle. “And it wouldn’t matter if I was in love with someone else. I’m promised to you, and I have to live with that.”

“Quite a doomed future, eh?”

Finally, she smiled, ever so slightly. “I’m sure you’re pleasant enough, Huxley.”

“So, you just didn’t want to get married, then?”

“Nope.”

“Well, me neither.”

She eyed me for a long second, then nodded in a sort of acceptance of me. Now that we knew we were on the same page, the silence between us was more comfortable. We would probably never truly like each other, but being on the same page made us allies, in a way.

My gaze swept over the various groups standing across the room, when I noticed Olivia. My heart rate leapt up, and my neck stretched as I tried to see her full body.

Fuck me.Does she have to look so fucking edible? The dress she wore was a thin, glittery material that outlined every one of her delicious curves. Her entire back was exposed, allowing me the sweet image of pulling my tongue right up her spine, into her neck. I found I wanted to wrap my hand around those long locks of hair and pull her neck open for me to taste.

“Oh, God. That must be Olivia’s fiancé.”

“What?” I asked, forgetting to filter my surprise. She had a fucking fiancé? Not that it mattered, anyway. I also had a fiancé. The news still put a brick in my gut. “When did she get engaged?”

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