Instead, she just stood and smoothed out her suit with those elegant, decisive motions that made everything she did look intentional.
Fine.
I let my hand drop. She collected herself, her bag, and her poise. The conference room lights haloed her, catching the gold band on her finger and turning it into a quiet declaration neither of us had fully digested yet.
Without hesitating, she walked past me toward the door when she was ready and I followed, resisting the urge to touch the small of her back.Too soon. Too forward. Too obvious.
But I wanted to.I already want way too much if I’m being honest.
As we left the conference room, the office buzzed with the usual workday noise, phones ringing, quiet conversations, and keyboards clacking, but something in the air shifted when people saw her. Or maybe I was just imagining things, but if I wasn’t and it was real, she walked through it with her chin held high, her expression unreadable, and her stride steady.
Anyone who didn’t know better might think she’d been born into this building instead of dragged out of a sinking ship and tossed into this. I didn’t want to catch up to her until we reached the private elevator, preferring the view from behind. Then I stepped up to her side, wondering where her head was at with all this.
“You’re quiet,” I said lightly. “Are you doing okay?”
She pressed the call button without looking at me, just easing back on those high heels. Her gaze flicked up at the digital counter. “I’m thinking.”
“I’m going to go ahead and assume that’s usually dangerous.”
Her lips twitched but only barely. “You’ll survive. Don’t worry.”
The elevator arrived and I motioned for her to precede me. Both of us strode in and turned at almost the exact same time to watch the doors slide shut. In the mirrored steel reflection, I saw us standing side by side for the first time and I had to admit we looked really good together.
Perhaps our marriage was one of convenience, but when something worked, it worked, and I had a feeling she and I were going to work really fucking well together. I just had to get to know her first.
CHAPTER 13
JANE
The restaurant Alex took me to was the kind of place where the lights were low, emitted from crystal chandeliers, and the waitstaff seemed to float rather than walk. A quiet hum of conversation filled the air, not loud, but polished.
If wealth had a sound, this would probably be it. It’d been a couple years since I’d been in a place like this, but as much as it should’ve been a treat, I found my mind wandering to Wyatt’s favorite burger joint.
I wondered if Alex had ever eaten at a diner like that. Then I looked around the fancy room again, the walls lined with art and thousand-dollar bottles of wine, and almost snorted. Definitely not.
“How did you even get us a table here on such short notice?” I asked, glancing up at him and trying not to get distracted by his strong profile.
“I have a standing reservation,” he said, as if it was obvious, and I supposed it should’ve been.
I chuckled under my breath, my head shaking. “Unbelievable. Other people probably have to wait eighteen months for a table, and you just make them keep one for you.”
“It’s close to the office, which makes it a convenient spot. And they have great bread here.”
The moment the hostess saw us, she greeted him by name and escorted us to his table without even looking at a seating chart. Naturally, I wondered why a single guy needed a standing reservation at a fancy restaurant, and my brain supplied a picture of him bringing other women here. Regularly.
My stomach rolled with that unjustified jealousy again, but I didn’t ask or say anything about it. The thought simply lingered, trailing behind me like perfume as I took my seat at a small, intimate table. It was set against a wall of windows overlooking the city. A bottle of champagne was brought over immediately—no menu needed apparently—and Alex nodded for it to be opened.
“Are we celebrating?” I asked, smoothing the napkin over my lap.
He didn’t blink. “Naturally.”
A celebration of what, exactly, neither one of us said. Not the fact that we were married or the fact that our arrangement was finalized. Not the fact that my life had just shifted on its axis so violently, I still felt off balance.
But even so, the champagne was poured. He lifted his glass. I lifted mine. We sipped, but for a few long minutes, there was nothing but silence between us.
Finally, I set my glass down and inhaled. He’d said we needed to talk about our future, and that was exactly what I was about to do. “Alex?—”
He beat me to it. “Before you say whatever you’re about to say, let me start. Please. If you don’t mind.”
