Page 88 of All Yours

“You’re not, and it’s not my intention. Understand, there’s a reason why I did what I did.”

I reached over and stroked her thigh. “I get it, and I’ll be more understanding.”

Sloane interlaced her fingers through mine. I pulled her hand over to my mouth and kissed it. She smiled.

“Do you think we’ll even see her again?”

Sloane wrinkled her nose. “I hope so.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sloane

Through the wrought-iron gate and past the garland and wreath draped white walled fence to the property, the Whitehouse Mansion came into view, outlined across the top by white lights. Lit garland draped the railings of the three-level portico with more columns than I’d ever seen on a house. As we rode up the driveway, I held hands with Jonah in the backseat of Camden’s Maserati under the gray sky of the afternoon. It struck me how white the façade was.

“Why is it Whitehouse and not Pennington?” Camden asked.

“It comes from her side of the family,” Lauren said.

“So, their name is Whitehouse, and they built the largest white house they could,” Camden observed.

“Some would say it matched their egos,” Lauren said.

“Holy shit,” Camden muttered. “So, this is how the other half live.”

“You have money,” I quipped.

“Not this kind of money.”

“This is old money,” Lauren said. “Mrs. Pennington came from money, married money, and made money of her own. She’s always invested a ton with this town.”

“And she knows all the right people,” Jonah added. “If you want to grow Carter Global Development, the people you need to have as contacts will be at this party.”

“Wow, this driveway goes on forever,” I said, as Camden took the car on another hairpin turn and the mansion faded from view. “Did you take a wrong turn?”

“There’s no way to take a wrong turn. It’s all a one lane road,” Camden said. The car rounded another turn, and another side of the mansion came into view. An all-white three level rotunda draped in Christmas greenery, white lights, and wreaths.

Camden slowed the car even more when a yellow vested man wielding lit up batons directed us into a parking lot.

“The house has a parking lot?” I asked. The lot was lit by lampposts with flickering lights that mimicked old gas lanterns.

“When you have a lot of parties and this much land, it makes sense,” Lauren said.

“I don’t know what the big deal is. My place has a parking lot too,” Jonah quipped.

“The apartment complex?” Lauren snorted.

I smiled at Jonah’s silliness as we climbed from the car.

“It’s not quite the same thing,” I said.

Jonah made his way around the car and held out his arm, his smile hitting me in all the right places. We’d been all over each other, holed up in my cabin for two days since the arraignment. He’d left earlier that day to gather more of his stuff. You’d think I’d have gotten my fill at this point. But I hadn’t been able to keep my hands to myself, either. After I’d gotten dressed for the party, Jonah’s eyes lit up, and I had to make him keep his hands off me not to ruin my hair and makeup. Jonah cleaned up nicely in his gray blazer layered over a white button down and deep maroon sweater vest that matched the color of my dress. He’d paired with an almost black pair of denim pants. I’d like to pull those layers off him. We could make it through a party, right?

A brick path lined with boxwood hedges led toward the house. I slid my hand into the crook of his arm. A wintry chill had taken hold, changing the surrounding well-manicured landscape to a grayish silver. The wind whipped around my legs and up my skirt. Maybe the halter neck dress that fell just above the knee was a mistake?

The path led to one of two staircases that came off the landing in different directions and turned outward in a semicircle that led up the front porch. As we neared the mansion, they draped the wrought-iron railings of the porch in greenery adorned with red and gold ornaments, pinecones, and red bows. The red and gold ornaments glittered in the glow of the white string lights woven throughout. Up close, the massive white columns gave the three-story white structure an even more imposing feel. Carvings with ornate scrollwork and floral shapes topped each column. Around the massive white front door, another garland of greenery, this one with red and gold ribbons wrapped around it and the corners anchored with gold bells.

“What do you say we live in a house like this one day?” Camden asked Lauren.

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