Page 49 of Seduced in Ink
“You’re right. So, I’m not nervous at all.” He let out a laugh. “Okay, fine, I’m nervous because this is for a lot longer than a dinner, but we can do this. We’realreadydoing it.”
Madison snorted, and he went over his words in his head.
“I meant this whole engagement thing. Though we’re already doingthat,too.”
“Thanks for the laugh,” she said, snorting.
“Wait, are you laughing about my performance? Because I will pull over right now and show you exactly what I mean.”
He looked over as she bit her lip and he held back a groan.
“No, Aaron. No car sex while we’re headed to meet my parents.”
He nodded. “So, does that mean we can have car sex at other times?”
She shook her head, laughing, looking far happier than she had when they’d started the drive. He’d done that. Somehow, he’d made her feel lighter. And if he could find a way to keep doing it, he’d put everything he had into it. He was just afraid he might not be enough.
He pushed those thoughts from his mind as he pulled up to the building at the end of the winding road. “Okay, wow. This place is bigger than it looks on the internet.”
Madison sighed, looking out the window. “My dad loves the lodge. Likes the fact that he sounds like a big wheeler and dealer while he’s here. But it’s a nice place, and the food’s great. I should get over my personal feelings about it. You’re going to be pampered, you’re also probably going to get asked if you want to invest in something, or they’re going to want to get into your inner circle to say that they know the famous Montgomerys.”
“Sounds like fun,” he said through gritted teeth.
“We can turn around right now if you want,” she whispered.
“You know, I was thinking the same thing for you. We can go away, have a vacation of our own.”
“I only got time off because I’m trying to prove to my mother that I can have happiness without her orchestrating it. And I know it seems like I’m doing the opposite with being here when she wants me to be, but she needs to see me happy, you know?”
“I do. That’s why I’m here with you. So, let’s do this, fiancée of mine.”
She smiled.
The valet opened the door without Aaron asking, and suddenly, they were in the middle of it all. Just like they had been at her parents’ house. People taking their bags, handing over a valet ticket on a very nice, crisp piece of paper, and ushering them to the front of the lodge.
Madison’s mother was there, talking to a couple of women wearing pearls and nice dresses, so Aaron plastered on a smile and put his arm around Madison’s waist.
She looked up at him but didn’t startle.
That had to be a good sign, an indication that they were getting used to each other.
Or maybe it meant they were getting too used to each other, and it would hurt each of them even more in the end.
He should be afraid that he was getting so used to having her by his side. Because when they walked away from this, he wasn’t sure how he would feel about it. Hell, he didn’t know what he feltnow. But that didn’t matter at the moment because he had a part to play: the doting fiancé. He needed to get Madison through this. Because she could. He knew it, her cousin knew it, the Montgomerys knew it. Now, she just needed to realize it.
“Madison, darling,” Maeve McClard said, walking forward on tall heels that made even his ankles hurt.
“Mother,” Madison said, leaning forward for a kiss on the cheek.
It seemed these people were the ones that Maeve McClard wanted to impress. Therefore, she was on her best motherly behavior.
This weekend would be interesting.
“Ah. Joyce, Miranda, this is my daughter, Madison, whom I’m sure you remember. And this is her fiancé, Aaron Montgomery.”
“TheAaron Montgomery?” either Joyce or Miranda asked.
Aaron wasn’t really sure he liked how this weekend was starting out. Madison leaned into him slightly as if to give him support when it should’ve been the other way around. Crap.