I turned on my heel and strode away because I needed that goddamn coffeeright then.
As Ueli fell into step beside me, he fucking patted the center of the small of my back, right where the handgun was shoved in the waistband of my trousers.
I reared back.“Stopit. Itoldyou what happened. It’sthere.”
“Yes, I could feel it.” He sighed again, more dramatically this time. “Anyway, I must protest?—”
“Yeah, yeah.Noted,Ueli.”
CHAPTER 11
the benefits of the oxblood birkin
LEXI
I have the oxblood Birkin for you.
You are my best yt friend now.
High praise for a girl from Nebraska. I took it.
Can we meet to discuss this post-nup contract.
Baby, I will come to you. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. Tomorrow morning, 10 AM, your hotel suite. DO NOT SIGN A DAMN THING.
PART THREE
shopping
CHAPTER 12
an inadequate supply
LEXI
Ijust wanted to get through the afternoon of high-priced shopping without offending or alienating Clementine, but there wereso many dresses.
I sat on the couch beside her again, my thigh pressed tightly against hers to share the three-ring binder with her, as models who were shaped nothing like me stomped down the small runway, their mouths set in flat lines as if we were inconveniencing them.
Clementine rested her head on one finger pressed to her temple. “John sent me the schedule for this week and said you two are invited to all the events. How are weevergoing to find enough decent clothes for you?” she fretted.
I didn’t know how to ask Clementine if I had been invited to things that she hadn’t been, because surely everyone invited Clementine to everything. I knew I must be right on the cusp of seeming like a déclassé dork. “Are there a lot of parties we’re supposed to attend?”
Wewas the right word choice, there.Wecould mean me and Nico, or all three of us, or even more people, unnamed.
Vagueness was my friend, and I didn’t have any other friends.
“There aren’t enough decent clothesin Las Vegas,not to mention proper accessories and jewelry,” she muttered. “I’ve had two stylists working with designers for a month to make sure I’ll be dressed properly for all the damned events. No doubt Nicolai threw a few suits into a garment bag becausemen.”
“Do I have to wear a new dress for all of the functions? Can’t we just find a few good pieces and then re-wear, maybe with some different accessories?”
Clementine sounded like she was breaking bad news to me. “Some people might be able to do that, but you areNicolai Romanov’s wife,and he is my dearest cousin. I won’t let you accidentally embarrass him.”
At least she was in Nicolai’s corner, if not mine. Keeping her in my corner was my only job just then.
So, no matter how much I’d rather be fighting it out with Nicolai as to whether or not we were going to stay married, I was definitely trapped in that dress showing for the foreseeable future.
I tried to help, I did. I had some opinions Clementine approved of and others she dismissed, and I let her, but I was more than willing to let her do the bulk of the deciding.
