“I never asked.”
“Bet you know her bra size.” He smirks.
I don’t deny it, because I do.
Gideon shakes his head at Liam. “That’s different.”
Liam waves him away. “Don’t worry about it. I have her ring size.”
“How?” I ask in shock. “Did she ever buy a ring from you?”
He shakes his head with an exaggeratedly superior air. “I’ve seen her fingers and shaken her hand.” He speaks as though I just asked him how he knows that the earth is round. “How can younotknow? All you have to do is look. Like how you look at Max’s chest and know what her bra size is.”
The reason I know her bra size is from seeing the tags from Danica’s place. But I keep that to myself.
Liam texts, then lifts his head. “Willie says she’s ready whenever you are. I’ll make sure to show you the best in the collection. If the proposal goes well, you can thank me by naming your firstborn after me.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Max
Since Rhys has gone to see his brothers, I decide to spend the later part of the morning with Ailee. We haven’t hung out much together lately, mostly because we’ve both been extremely busy.
She’s pregnant with twins. I want to hear about how she manages to juggle her boss, who is now her husband, and the pregnancy and everything else, including dealing with an insane mother-in-law. The woman was so bad it made the news. I totally freaked out when I couldn’t reach Ailee for days, thinking something horrific had happened. Not even calling Huxley & Webber and dropping Rhys’s name—or Jeremiah’s—got me anywhere because everything was totally hush-hush as law enforcement did its work. I cried with relief when I finally heard that she was all right, just badly shaken.
“We need to go to this parfait place. You’ll love it.” She sends me the address to Himeko, and I grin with anticipation. It’s a cute little Japanese-style parfaiteria that I’ve always wanted to visit, but haven’t had a chance.
A long line loops around the block, much worse than at Hubby & Wifey.
–Me: Hey, I just got to Himeko. Where are you?
–Ailee: I’m at a table near the window.
I move past the people in line. Ailee waves from inside, as though scared I’ll miss her. As if! There’s no mistaking that long, flowing platinum hair.
I walk in. A blissful aroma of chocolate, cream and sugar sends happy shivers through me.My God. I could get addicted to this smell!
The interior is very Japanese. All the mini-dolls in pretty kimonos on high shelves bring back the memory of Tokyo. Sweet piano music flows from the sound system.
“This is even better than I expected,” I say, sitting across from Ailee.
“I know, right? Akiko brought me here a little while ago, and I thought you’d love it.”
“How early did you get here? That line was impossible.” I gesture outside, guilty that she had to wait for long.
“I didn’t wait, actually. Akiko’s one of the investors, so she snagged this table for me.”
“Whew. Nice to have a stepmother-in-law like that.”
“Especially a sane one.” She sighs and shakes her head.
“Now I don’t feel so bad.” Shoulders sagging, I inhale again. “I could have, like, aroma orgasms in this place.”
Ailee laughs. “I know. These parfaits are like crack. Andhuge.”
A waitress walks past us with a tray with three parfaits that are almost as big as a person’s head. “Just look at them.” I follow the tray, my own head turning. “Holy cow. How many layers of chocolate is that?”
“I guess…twenty-five or something? It’s called the Deutsche parfait. I had one before, and it’s to die for.”
