“Was that always your plan?”
“Yep.” I check myself in the mirror as I slide my feet into strappy Dior heels, then grab the crossbody handbag thatmatches. “If you remember, I’ve never been one to show a lot of skin, Julian. You never need to worry about that.”
He sighs and then he’s behind me, holding me.
“I love the way you dress, but I won’t ever be okay with other men seeing what’s mine. I can’t change that.”
I turn in his arms and cup his face. “I don’t care if anyone else in the world looks twice at me, Julian.Yoursis the only attention I want.”
“I care,” he says as he lowers his forehead to mine.
“But you’re the only one I love.”
He goes very still, and his eyes bounce back and forth between mine.
“Say that again.”
“I love you,” I say softly, and then he’s kissing me like a man starved. I’ll have to reapply my lipstick, but I don’t care.
“I’d like to be a dick and keep you home with me tonight,” he says. “Because I’ve been waiting to hear those words from you for a long fucking time.”
“You’ll hear them again,” I reply with a smile. “And Ireallywant to go to the concert. But I love you, and I’ll see you later.”
He kisses me again, softer this time, and then once I’ve touched up my makeup, I’m in the SUV with my husband and our men.
Danny and Jeremy are up front. They’ll go to the concert with me.
Julian’s men are following us.
“I’ll be with Mateo and Rome, but I’ll be available when you’re ready to go home,” he says and takes my hand in his, linking our fingers. “You’re meeting with the penthouse designer tomorrow.”
Over the past month, I’ve mostly worked with her virtually. There wasn’t anything to be done on-site, but now things are starting to be installed, and I want to see it myself.
“Yes, at noon. I can’t wait to see it all come together. Have you dropped in to have a look?”
“Of course I have.” He smirks and then kisses my hand. “You’re going to love it.”
The SUV pulls up to a VIP entrance at the venue, and as always, Julian gets out first to make sure it’s safe.
“Be safe tonight. I love you,” I tell him after a kiss to his lips, and then Scarlett and Lulu arrive, and with all six of our guards, we walk inside.
We’re shown to a private elevator that takes us up to our premium suite. I shouldn’t be surprised by the opulence around us, and yet,I am.
“Holy shit, this isnice,” Scarlett says, and all I can do is nod.
There’s a buffet spread out fit for a freaking king. Pasta, sliders, flatbread pizzas. We have an attendant, who immediately takes our drink order, and then I survey the rest of the room.
There are couches, windows where we can sit to watch the concert, but there’s also a private balcony with normal seats for us to watch everything unfold.
The stage isright there.
“Who arranged for this?” I ask, looking over at my friends.
“I told Rome what we wanted to do, and he said he’d handle the tickets,” Lulu says, also looking thunderstruck. “I thought that meant he’d buy eleven seats. We’d be in the middle, our guards on either side, and empty seats at the end. I had no idea he’d buy out a box for the night.”
“We need to do this once a month,” I decide and hold my glass up to clink with theirs. “Cheers, friends.”
At some point,I lost my shoes.
