Page 119 of By His Vow
Sure, this whole thing is one big fabrication, but still, she deserves for it to be memorable. We’re both going to have a lot of life to live after this bizarre year, and there’s a part of me that wants her to remember our time together fondly. I also want her future husband to have a lot to live up to, because I’m nothing if not competitive.
We’re only a few minutes out when she turns to me. She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. Instead, she silently studies me with a small frown between her brows.
“Are you okay?” she asks, her eyes bouncing between mine.
“Yeah, why?”
“You seem…nervous?”
I laugh it off. “Nope. Just ready for this night to be over so we can be alone, now that you’re talking to me.”
“We've got a few hours yet. There’s every chance you could fuck it up again,” she muses.
“You don’t think very highly of me, do you?”
She smiles. “There are plenty of things I know you’re good at, Kingston. A serious relationship isn’t one of them.”
“Says the expert,” I mutter. “How many have you been in exactly?” If I didn’t already know the answer, then her tight expression would tell me. “Admit it, neither of us knows what we’re doing right now.”
The car comes to a stop, but we don’t look away from each other.
“Never has a truer word been spoken. Are you ready for your big night, hotshot?”
“Always. Ready to show the world that you’re my girl?”
“Not even close,” she answers honestly.
The door opens beside me and the noise from outside breaks through the tension.
I squeeze her thigh in support before sliding from the seat and stepping out.
Cameras flash around me, but it only gets worse when I lean into the car and help her out.
Our names are called as we move toward the entrance with my arm locked around her waist. We turn this way and that, giving the media—and her late father—exactly what they want.
30
TATUM
It doesn’t matter how long I sit here or how many people I talk to, how many condolences on the loss of my father or congratulations on my new relationship with Kingston I receive, my unease over what tonight holds never leaves me.
Every time Kingston moves suddenly, my stomach turns over, thinking that this is the moment he’s going to successfully turn all eyes on us—on me.
The welcome drinks go down a little too easy, and long before the meal arrives, I’m feeling a buzz thanks to the minimal food I’ve eaten all day. I couldn’t; I was both still too mad at Kingston and nervous about what the evening was going to hold.
There was a reason he wanted me to look my best, and it’s more than just wanting me to make him look good by being on his arm, I’m sure of it.
Miles keeps one eye on me all night, as if he’s expecting me to bolt any minute or possibly lose my shit like I did yesterday.
Both Kian and Liam are here, and every time their eyes turn on me, my cheeks heat with embarrassment. I shouldn’t have done that yesterday. It was unprofessional of me. But the red haze descended, and I couldn’t stop myself.
I want to say that it was a one-time reaction, but Kingston drives me so crazy that I’d probably be lying.
Dessert plates are cleared away, and still, nothing happens as we wait for the award ceremony segment of the night to begin.
Callahan Enterprises will win; they always do. It was one of the things that used to drive Dad crazy being the best friend of the man who owned and ran the most successful hospitality company in America. But the truth is, Callahan Enterprises has always, and will always be bigger than Warner Group. Well, maybe that’s no longer true, now they’re one and the same.
Warner Group’s ethos was always to keep things smaller and more personalized for our clients. Callahan Enterprises has bigger ambitions. It’s why they now have resorts on every continent and are growing that number on a weekly basis.