I looked up at him. “Then what happens now?”
The question tumbled out before I could stop it, my mind suddenly racing with possibilities born half in logic, half in fear, and half in panic.Does he expect me to move in immediately? Is he going to take me back to his place to… consummate our marriage?
The thought flashed through me so quickly, my cheeks warmed. We hadn’t spoken about that kind of thing at all, but I supposed I was his wife now. Alex studied me for a fraction of a second, as if he could read every frantic thought in my head.
“It’s Monday, Jane,” he said simply, like that explained everything. “I have some work to do and so do you.”
“Oh. Right.” My voice was embarrassingly small. “So you’re, what, dropping me off at my office on the way to yours?”
He didn’t smile, but his expression softened, the corners of his eyes easing just a touch. “No, Jane. You’re coming with me.”
My heart gave another one of those unpredictable kicks. “I’m coming with you?”
“For a while,” he clarified. “Then I’m taking you out to dinner.”
Dinner. My stomach dipped at the thought, but there was also a strange bubbly sensation, like butterflies were waking and stretching their wings.
This man terrified me and drew me in all at once, and he was taking me to work on our wedding day. The weirdest part of that, however, was that honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
CHAPTER 12
ALEX
Will, Nate, and Zach stood in my office, all of them in various stages of shock as they looked between me and my wife, who was sitting across the hall in a glass-walled conference room we conveniently had a view of.
Jane sat alone at the sprawling, polished table, a cup of coffee cradled between her hands and her shoulders tight. She was surrounded by the files we had on her board members, already working on the strategy we would take with them.
I doubted she even realized she was being watched. Her gaze flicked from one file to the next as she scribbled notes on the pad beside her every so often. Meanwhile, there were four pairs of Westwood eyes near constantly gawking at her.
Well,Iwas gawking. My brothers were moreprocessing. Frankly, I was still processing too, but I also hadn’t been able to stop staring at her all damn day.
Her blonde hair had been pulled into another elegant knot at the nape of her neck, that pantsuit hugging her curves in a way that left me wanting so much more. It was modest but perfectly fitted, the jacket fastening just under her chest and framing her breasts like it was trying to offer them to me.
On the other hand, the high-necked blouse she had on underneath didn’t offer so much as a hint of cleavage. Fuck, it almost didn’t even offer a hint of neck, and yet, it was whatwasn’ton display that was driving me nuts. Absolutely up the fucking wall. Especially now that she had my ring on her finger.
But here we were, at the office hours after vowing to spend the rest of our lives together.Figures I’d be at work on my wedding day instead of buried deep inside my wife like every other guy on the planet ever.
“Well, congratulations,” Will said, dragging my mind out of the gutter and back to the present, where the three morons were still blinking between Jane and me.
I shot him a glare sharp enough to slit his throat, but Nate stepped between us, sliding his hands into his pockets and putting his back to her. “What’s your plan now?”
My plan. Of course. Because we’re just pieces on the chessboard.
“I’ve already had my secretary pass the update to the PR department,” I said. “They’ll circulate the announcement. By lunchtime, the world will know Jane is now a Westwood. Then it’s up to the Thayer board to react.”
And react, they would.
“What if they’re not aware of the stipulation?” Nate asked carefully. “They might not know that her husband gets two votes with his ring.”
“They know,” I said, the corner of my mouth curling slightly upward, because no matter what, this had still been a fucking solid deal. “Trust me.”
As if on cue, Zach’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen and then looked up at me, lifting an eyebrow as a smirk ghosted across his lips. “Well, what do you know? It’s one of the board members I was trying to seduce out of his seat with a nice plushy retirement. I guess he finally has something to say.”
He answered with cheerful politeness, slipping effortlessly into the role he played best, the nonthreatening charmer who was always working an angle but no one ever realized it.
“Let the games begin.” Will smirked, clapping Zach on the shoulder as the two headed out. Zach shot me a wink, mouthingcongratsbefore disappearing into the hallway.
I exhaled a long, controlled breath, but my gaze drifted immediately back to Jane. She still hadn’t moved, her thumb sliding absently along the rim of her mug and her expression unreadable.
