He huffed a laugh. “Any other relationship I’ve had? Shannon? I would say yes. You, though, Luci? No. Not with you. I’ve never once thought you would want me for my money.”
I leaned back, crossed my arms, and stared him down. “So, tell me, why would you think I wouldn’t want to be with you now?”
“The publicity is a lot.” He said, looking out the window to the line of photographers out front. “I know how hard you have worked to hide from Justin. If you are with me, he will find out. The whole world will find out.”
“How is it that I never heard that you… wait… you were worried I wouldn’t want to be with you anymore because Justin would find out?” Now I was pissed. I stood up, and stood before him. He looked up at me, and I pushed his chair back and sat in his lap. His arms circled around my waist, and I said, “You are such a stupid fucking idiot, Rye.”
I kissed him with everything I had. I fed every feeling I had for him into that kiss. When he opened for me, he moaned and I felt him harden under my lap. Our tongues danced, and I breathed him in. No matter what he was right, he was still my Rylie. I pulled back, breathless. “Don’t you ever fucking doubt me again, asshole.”
“You know that the second you kissed me, every camera in this place went off, right?” His words were a whisper against my lips that I felt turn up slightly.
“Can I be a public bitch for a minute?” I cooed and his eyes met mine.
“I don’t like that glint in your eye, sweetheart.” He just reached out and kissed me again. “You are going to be a public relations nightmare, aren’t you?”
“Rylie. I love you. If you want me to behave, I will. At least I’ll try to behave, but you know I have a mouth. If anyone says something that I don’t agree with, I’m going to say something.” I got up off his lap, swaying my hips a bit more than necessary as I sat back down before my dinner.
“The media is actually being very well behaved considering that this is the first time they have seen me with a woman since…”
“Since you became Mr. Rylie Allen?” He nodded. “Okay. I’ll behave. Though I suspect that kiss will be on every front-page media outlet by morning?”
He smiled and said, “It will. Now will you please eat? I know you are hungry.” I raised an eyebrow at him, and he mirrored the movement, before his voice dropped and he said, “Eat, sweetheart.”
I couldn’t help the satisfaction in getting him to be more forceful with his words and started eating.
I really didn’t care about Rylie’s money. He was right in that I loved him for him. Justin had been from a well-off family, and look how he had been. An A-Class asshole. So no, Rylie’s money didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t like it was mine. It’s his. I did have the passing thought that maybe he would tire of me and get himself a trophy wife, but I huffed a laugh, shaking my head at myself.
Rylie’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “What?”
“Just had a passing thought that maybe you would leave me for a trophy wife.”
His eyebrows shot to the ceiling, then his gaze flicked over me. “You fit the appearance of one, but what you bring to the table is so much more than those brainless, cackling hens. I hate having to attend events and seeing all those women just bitching because they didn’t have whatever it was that released that week, earlier than someone else. It’s all bullshit, Luce. It really is.”
“Will you want me to…” I trailed off.
“Sweetheart, I am not going to have you do anything you don’t want to do. Personally, I would like to keep you away from those women for as long as possible. It’s one of the many reasons I didn’t tell you. You would hate every minute of it, or as I said earlier, you would be a PR nightmare.”
I popped a piece of steak in my mouth, chewing as I kept my eye on him, and when he gave me a look like, ‘Well?’
“If you want me to stay around, I’ll be a nightmare. You know I can’t keep my mouth shut.”
He hummed at that and said, “But I like what your mouth can do when it’s open.”
“You just wait, Mr. Allen. I’ll show youexactlywhat it can do.”
“I’ll hold you to that. But first I want to see it eating some food, because you aren’t eating.”
I conceded, because the steak was delicious, and popped another bite in my mouth.
The rest of the dinner was pretty uneventful. There were still some turned heads and hushed whispers as people passed, but otherwise, it was just like any other dinner out with Rylie. He dug his spoon into the chocolate lava cake, scooped a little of the vanilla-caramel ice cream, and lifted it to my mouth, cupping his hand underneath.
I smirked at him. “You are enjoying this aren’t you?”
“What? Treating you like the princess you are?” His voice was a little deeper than the situation called for, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He answered by lifting the spoon a bit more, and I leaned forward to take the bite. “Damn straight I am.”
A few minutes later, when the plate was all but licked clean and Rylie and I were talking about Katie’s new boyfriend, the manager said, “Mr. Allen. Ma’am.” He nodded quickly and turned back toward Rylie. “Mr. Allen, we cleared out most of the media out front. We will pull your car around when you are ready.”
Rylie’s eyes met mine, and he raised an eyebrow. I nodded, and he turned to the manager and said, “Thank you, Raul. I believe we are ready to leave.”
