Page 36 of His Christmas Gift

DEAN

Ihad been to more dinner parties than I could count, trying to make connections and sway people into paying attention to my company.

However, I hadn’t ever felt as much pressure to perform well as I did now, as Autumn and I moved through her parent’s house greeting people that none of us even knew.

“I don’t even think most of these people are from this town,” Autumn muttered as we each grabbed a glass of wine and retired to a corner out of the way from all of the wealthy people scattered around the living room and dining room.

“Your parents have a lot of friends,” I commented as we stood next to each other, our eyes sweeping over everyone else as they boasted about their accomplishments and told stories about their extravagant lives. I heard those stories all the time, but I didn’t speak much about my own. All I talked about was my company because that took up my whole life.

“I don’t even think they’re friends. I think they’re just powerful people that they have as connections,” Autumn told me before taking a deep sip of her wine. She let out a sigh, her eyes sweeping over toward the entrance of the dining room. “I can hear my mom boasting about their trip to the Bahamas. You know, they never took me on any vacations as a kid. They thought that I wouldn’t behave well enough.”

“Even when all they do is try to make you behave a certain way,” I mocked, shaking my head. They didn’t want a child. They wanted something to show off.

“You have to meet my daughter and her fiancé. He owns a successful business,” her mother’s voice sounded from the dining room.

“Is it too late to run out?” Autumn asked me, grimacing as her mother made her way out of the dining room with a man behind her.

“I think so,” I said, placing my hand on her back as we shared a reluctant look. I then put on my best, dazzling grin and nodded to her mother and the middle-aged man that trailed her. “Mrs. Miller, the party is lovely.”

Her mother leaned forward to pretend to kiss me on the cheek before gesturing to the man beside her.

“This is John Gore. He owns a successful marketing company in Lafayette,” she said. “This is my daughter, Autumn, and her fiancé, Dean Everard.”

“Nice to meet you,” John said as he shook our hands. He then turned to me. “HyperFit, right?”

I nodded, surprised that he knew of my company. People usually knew of my company, but they didn’t know I ran it unless they were other bigwigs, fitness fanatics, or businesses that wanted to collaborate with me.

“Yes,” I told him.

“I’ve been tracking your business journey since you started expanding. It’s nice to have a Louisiana native making such big waves in the business world,” John replied with an impressed grin.

“Isn’t that impressive? He runs a fitness empire,” Autumn’s mother said, feeding on the conversation. She probably liked me because she could now boast about having a successful son-in-law.

“It is impressive. He rose to billionaire status quickly,” John said with a nod. “He’s had all sorts of articles and interviews done on him.”

“It’s been quite a ride. Not as special as having this woman as mine, though,” I replied, sharing a smile with Autumn. I was proud of my accomplishments, but none of them had hardly crossed my mind since I started being around Autumn more.

“That’s the thing. I don’t remember you ever talking about having a girlfriend or a fiancée. I think you even said in an interview not too long ago that you were single and not interested in settling down anytime soon,” John told me as a confused look filled his face.

Autumn’s mother narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion, looking at me for an explanation.

I could feel Autumn tense up beside me, and I knew that it was down to me to think of some excuse to do damage control on this situation. I completely forgot about that interview or about the fact that I had no social media posts or pictures with Autumn. It was like she didn’t exist in my life until recently, which was sort of true outside of our school years.

“Well, we wanted to keep our relationship private,” I replied, making her mother lift an eyebrow. “Not that I was ashamed of being with her. It was the opposite.”

Autumn glanced over at me, looking like she was about to start sweating out of nervousness.

I drew in a deep breath to steady myself, telling myself not to mess this up for her. She would never hear the end of it from her parents.

“I’ve had stalkers since I started gaining speed. People wanted to be with me just because of my money and my brand,” I explained. “When I met Autumn, I didn’t want any jealous person to bother her or even endanger her. I care about her too much to put her in harm’s way.”

“Oh, wow. I had no idea you had stalkers. You never talked about them,” John replied.

I hadn’t told anyone but my security team back in New York City about them. My security guards only followed me to busy events because I didn’t want to be trailed all the time. However, some people have shown up at my main office unannounced, and I had seen strange cars in my driveway. I hadn’t ever been harmed or anything, but people were strange and unpredictable.

“I didn’t want anyone else getting any ideas,” I said. “We haven’t gone public yet, but we wanted to tell our families. Down the line, we won’t hide our marriage.”

“How chivalrous. Thank you for protecting my daughter,” my mother said, gazing at me like I was some knight in shining armor. I could hear Autumn lightly laugh next to me.

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