Page 22 of Arranged Silverfox

"What did he think would happen?"

"He thought Mr. Mead was going to whip out a fountain pen and sign the contract right there." I shook my head.

"I explained to him that these relationships take time to grow. It's not overnight, and he is pretty much an outsider to most of the people at the dinner party."

Sebastian was a jerk most of the time, but it still sickened me how classist Boston was. As wealthy as his family was and with as much business as they did in the city, they should have been members six months ago.

"But why haven't you seen him for two weeks besides seeing him at the party?"

I sighed. "Procrastination. I don't want to give up my life. The more I see him, the less time I'll have at the bakery and—" I gripped Jasmine's coat, and we stopped walking.

"What is it?" She asked wide-eyed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes-well-no, not exactly. Did I tell you the big project Sebastian is working on is in Dover?"

Jasmine relaxed a bit. "Don't do that." She punched my arm, and we resumed walking. “I thought you were dying or something."

"I'll be dead if I get caught! My mother and Sebastian will duke it out over who gets to kill me.”

"Dover is outside of New Bee. There's no way he will find out about the bakery."

"Maybe not, but you know how the New Bee and Dover people interact. New Bee doesn’t even have a hospital. You have to go to Dover. We’re interconnected."

Jasmine bit her lip.

"I'm worried someone will find out." I tucked a lock of blonde hair behind my ear. "I have a lot of customers from Dover." My stomach tightened.

"Running the bakery is the only thing that is keeping me sane during this whole arranged marriage. If Mother or Sebastian find out about it." I shook my head. "I don't even want to think about it."

We waited for the light to turn so we could cross the street.

"Maybe it won't be that bad," Jasmine suggested. "When they see how successful The Cookie Cove is, they might change their minds. Besides, your dad would back you up, wouldn’t he?"

We crossed the street with a herd of people.

“My dad loves my mother a lot, but he doesn’t love standing up to her. There’s a reason why we both decided it would be easier to go behind her back and start The Cookie Cove instead of being honest. And it’s not just my mother. Jasmine, my entire family is a bunch of classist snobs. So are most of the wealthy people at the Columbia Club. If my mother or anyone from their world found out that I spend my days working in a bakery serving cookies and coffee to people. They'd be mortified."

I tucked my hands into my coat pockets and sighed. "People would think that the Cavanaugh family has fallen on hard times. Which, I know what you’re going to say, is true. But we can’t let people know that! It would hurt our image. An image my family has spent over a century cultivating."

My parents' precious grasp on their appearance got us into this whole mess.

Jasmine put her arm around me. "We're not going to let anyone figure out that you are the one running The Cookie Cove."

"How are we going to manage that?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe you can wear a wig when you're in New Bee and let people think you've dyed your hair. Then don’t wear the wig when you’re in Boston.”

Jasmine clapped her hands. "Oh, and do your makeup differently."

I laughed. "I'm not a double agent."

"Maybe it is time you started acting like one."

My phone buzzed, and I checked my texts.

“Mother and Julia are at the Bridal shop,” I explained to Jasmine.

Julia was my sorority sister from college. She didn’t know about the arranged marriage. I hated not filling her in, but I couldn’t have too many people knowing the truth. Besides, Jasmine was the only friend I trusted not to spill the beans.