The first thing I noticed when I woke up was a beautiful dress by the dressing table, the color was so vibrant it shimmered. It hung from the stand at the foot of the bed, gold that looked like it had been poured instead of sewn, a slip of light with a low back and a neckline that made my collarbones look sharp. Beside it, a pair of heels with thin ankle straps and a clutch the size of my palm, both the same soft champagne shade. A note was not necessary. I could feel his fingerprints on every item already.
I showered until the bathroom was filled with steam and the mirror blurred. When I wiped a circle clear with my hand, a stranger looked back. My eyes were puffy from the crying I did last night. I curled my hair because I needed something to do with my hands. I dusted a little gold on my eyelids because the dress demanded it and then I made use of the lipstick I saw on my dresser.
Time crawled. I sat on the bed in the dress with the clutch balanced on my knees and watched the digital clock on the nightstand blink from one minute to the next. I tried not to think about the contract in his desk. I tried not to think about Ian's file. I tried not to think at all, but thoughts leaked through anyway. If I smiled tonight, would I hate myself more. If I didn't, would he make me pay for it later I was sure if thay.
A soft knock and a woman in a black suit appeared to say the car was waiting.
The hotel was the kind with floors that swallowed footsteps and chandeliers that threw stars onto polished marble. Music drifted from somewhere I could not see. Waiters carried champagne that looked like bottled sunshine. People turned when we entered. Of course they did. Alexander always drew a tide.
He stood at the top of the stairs, perfectly made, a dark suit that fit like it had been built on his body, tie a simple black line, cuff links that caught the light. His eyes found me and stayed. There was a small pause before he held out his hand, a pause that made the air around us feel charged. His fingers closed over mine. Warm. Steady and Claiming.
"Smile,little mouse" he said quietly, without looking at my mouth.
And I did, because it cost less than fighting here.
The first woman who approached wore emerald silk and a diamond necklace that looked like it could pay my rent for the next ten years. She clasped my hands like we were old friends. "I have to know. How did he woo you. Alexander never tells stories.
I dipped toward her like a conspirator. "He tripped trying to ask me out and went down like a tree." I widened my eyes. "Right in front of a waiter carrying over ten flutes of champagne."
Her laugh burst out, surprised and delighted. She patted Alexander's arm. "Oh You poor thing."
The muscle in his jaw ticked once. His palm at my waist tightened and then eased.
Next, a man with a politician's smile and a wife who looked bored. He lifted his glass. "The proposal story. Come on now. Give us the good part."
I leaned closer, voice low. "His trousers split when he took a knee. Loud enough to echo."
The wife choked on a laugh. The man tried to hide his grin behind his glass. Alexander exhaled through his nose, the kind of breath that said later in a tone I did not want to hear, but he said nothing. Just smiled politely at them.
Then a glossy-haired gossip columnist who knew how to sharpen a question until it cut. "He looks like a crier," she said, tilting her head. "Do you make him watch sad movies, does he cry at them?"
I touched two fingers to my lips like I was trying to keep a secret and failing. "He sobbed at a dog food commercial once." I put my hand on his chest. "Full shoulders and all."
A ripple began to follow us. People turned to glance and then turned again to whisper. I stacked silly stories like a wall because it was the only way I had to push him back. He let me, and that unsettled me more than if he had dragged me out. He would not give me the drama I wanted. He would let me tire myself out first.
He guided me through the crowd like the room belonged to him. In a way, it did. Every time his hand shifted at my waist, my body answered with heat and fury, a miserable mix. He bent to murmur in my ear once, his breath warm. "Are you finished yet little mouse."
I kept my smile in place. "Oh I'm just getting started."
He made a low sound that could have been a laugh if it had any softness in it.
We ate a course I barely tasted. Something delicate and expensive dissolved on my tongue while worry and adrenaline made everything taste like salt. When the plate was cleared, a waiter appeared with a silver tray. A crystal glass tapped. The room dimmed by a switch I could not see. Alexander stepped forward into the small spotlight that followed power around like a loyal dog.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, voice easy, practiced. I hated how good he was at this. "Thank you for coming her today."
I felt the shift as attention tightened. He did not look at the crowd. He looked at me. It was intimate. It was a warning.
"Allow me to tell you something true," he said. "This woman is the bravest person I know. She protects what she loves. She kept standing when it would have been easier to fall." He lifted his glass. "To my fiancée Isabella."