As if he can hear my panicked thoughts, however, Leon suddenly turns his head, and his eyes fall right on me.
“Sutton!” he yells, raising a hand and waving. “Sutton! Come over here!”
God, the man has no tact! Heads are turning to stare at him, then I feel eyes falling on me. My cheeks burn with humiliation and I slowly wind my way over to join them, having no choice if I want to avoid any more of a scene, but also hoping I somehow get lost in the crowd.
When I reach them, Leon reaches for me and pulls me into a tight hug before I can do anything to stop it.
“You look ravishing,” he murmurs in my ear, making me cringe. My stomach twists as my anxiety bubbles up. Panic begins to seize me, but I fight tooth and nail to keep it under control and maintain a cool exterior.
“Er… thanks.” I wiggle my way out of his hold and step closer to my mom.
She and Aubrey are smiling like they’re really old friends, but I can sense a strange sort of tension between them that I’m sure neither of them is willing to acknowledge.
“I’m so glad you both could make it,” Mom exclaims, squeezing Aubrey’s shoulder. “It’s been such a long, busy week and it’s so good to see you again. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to talk much since Monday’s dinner.”
After that disaster of a dinner, I was certain Mom was going to be mad at me or badger me about meeting with Leon again. Maybe she got the hint that I’m not at all interested. Besides, their company’s headquarters is in Texas. Nowhere near New York… though they might have hinted they have an office there.
I’m not sure. I pretty much clocked out once dinner started.
Even if that were the case, it just wouldn’t be practical for Leon and me to be together, even if I was interested…
Aubrey waves her hand flippantly, as if batting my mother’s words away.
“I understand completely. We’ve been quite busy ourselves, but we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity for Leon to spend more time with Sutton.”
My dad nods, grinning as he looks at me, his brown eyes warm. He looks so handsome in his dark blue suit, his brown hair styled and swept to the side. Dad is usually very well dressed, and he one hundred percent has Mom to thank for that. It’s not unusual for heads to turn when he walks into a room, so I’m not surprised at the women sneaking peaks of him over their shoulders. Hell, even Aubrey glances his way and her stare lingers a little longer than appropriate.
Thankfully, Mom doesn’t seem to notice.
Seeing dad look so proudly at me only in the context of being together with this terrible new potential husband—and not for the wins I was racking up with possible business partners only moments ago—is like a knife in the gut. “There you go, Sutton,” he says. “You have a partner for the evening. And who knows? Maybehecan help you close a few deals.”
It takes every ounce of my willpower not to completely lose my shit, but his words make me want to curl up into a little ball and disappear from sight. Why can’t he just believe in me? Why are he and Mom so convinced I need a man to be successful? It’s so humiliating to be talked down to, especially in front of the likes of Leon, and I hate that there’s a significant part of me that is so willing to believe them.
“Why don’t you two go and have fun?” Mom suggests.
She’s oblivious to my anxiety, which is a relief. My history of panic attacks are partly why she and Dad don’t think I can run things on my own and I don’t want to give them any hint I’m notover them. They think it’s a past problem. Something I’ve fixed. Ineedthem to think that.
“An excellent idea, Mrs. Holloway.” Leon grabs my hand and loops it around his arm before I can stop him. “Come along, dear. Let’s go mingle.”
CHAPTER FOUR: MEET AGAIN
SUTTON
Oh God,I think I’m going to puke. My heart is racing and my stomach twists. Sweat breaks out along my forehead. Fuck, fuck, fuck! I need to get it together. I can’t lose it. Not here. Not now. And especially not withthisguy. Mom and Dad are watching… are they frustrated? They look frustrated. Disapproving. Is that just my imagination? Fuck!
Not wanting to let them down, I allow Leon to lead me away, my anxiety and fear of public confrontation making me so docile, I feel sick.
As we walk away from our parents, Leon continues talking, prattling on and on as if totally convinced that his every word is fascinating. Frankly, I can’t hear any of his words over the roar of my own spiraling thoughts. When I finally manage to force myself to listen to him, his plans are even worse than I imagined.
“So, I was thinking when we’re married, we’ll obviously have our main home in Texas, but we could spring for a townhouse in New York, too, so you can spend time with your parents when you want to,” he declares. “It would also be convenient for me to have a place to stay when I’m in town on business. If I have tosplit my time between states, I’d rather not have to stay in a hotel every visit.”
I blink, struggling to keep up with what he’s saying. Is he out of his fucking mind?
“Don’t you think that’s a little presumptuous…” I begin, but he cuts me off, ignoring my attempt to pump the brakes on his unhinged ideas completely.
“I suppose we should have you take over as CEO for Holloway sometime before we marry,” he muses. “Down the line, we’ll figure out the other details. As we have children, we’ll restructure everything so you can keep your focus on domestic stuff, and I’ll take over your duties at Holloway so you won’t have to stress about any of that silly work stuff. I can do all the work, don’t worry. A woman as lovely as you should never need to stress, after all…” He chuckles.
“Um, what?” Children? Texas? And he expects me to just hand over my family’s company to play happy homemaker? Fuck that! Nothing against women who are homemakers — more power to them, really — but that’s not what I want.
