Chapter Four
Everett pretended not to hear Isabel's quietly hissed questions about remaining married and left her to the baby shower details. He was quite sure she’d have a slew of questions fired her way once she reentered the house, but given her determination to pretend what had happened hadn’t, he left her to navigate the questions however she saw fit.
Instead of returning to the house where Jacob and Tomas waited, he took the boardwalk to the first bridge over the dunes, his thoughts souring his mood as he tried to sort through the risks versus the rewards of his plans.
His gut told him he had an uphill battle where Isabel was concerned, but that challenge drew him. She wasn't a pretentious socialite trying to entrap him. Quite the opposite, in fact.
After all, he had been the one to reach out and open the chapel door for her. If anyone was to blame for the mistake, she could argue he had done this to her.
Everett frowned down at the sand gathered at the end of the bridge. He wasn't exactly dressed for a walk on the beach, but at the bottom of the bridge was an unoccupied bench he made his own.
He needed more time to think. To come up with the arguments that would need to be made to battle his way through the next few weeks, if not months.
Isabel's surprise that he might want anything other than a divorce shouldn't have felt like a slight but it had. Apparently he was okay to sleep with but not marry? It was quite the turn of tables for him and what he'd experienced since growing into the man he'd become.
He realized she based her statements on their lack of familiarity, but from the moment they’d met at the gallery in Las Vegas, they shared an ease. Not to mention more than a healthy dose of chemistry he found highly unique. Something he felt they could definitely work with and build on. It was one thing to find himself accidentally married to someone but quite another for it to be someone he found stunningly attractive.
Her smile, her scent. The way she’d twist her hair around a finger when she talked. How she lit up when she laughed.
But what were the odds she truly didn’t know who he was when Google was only a few taps away? The thought brought a fresh wave of awareness that made him sit forward on the bench as it rushed over him.
Was it possible?
Isabel hadn't seemed to recognize his name in Vegas, other than to acknowledge that they both knew Michael. The thought of her not knowing his identity as a businessman or his financial status appealed on a level that made him want to go back to the house and kiss her senseless so that, if she hadn’t already googled him, she wouldn’t, so she’d never look at him the way women tended to do. He was more than a bank account and society pages. More than his wealth and business acumen.
Her lack of awareness, if true, was a clean slate, one he could use to get to know her and she him before the stresses of his financial status became a thing. Divorce, the news that he'd mistaken a real wedding chapel for a fake one wouldn't go unobserved by his peers and colleagues. If word got out, he risked not only his professional reputation but the trust his associates placed in him. More than money was at stake and tipped the scales toward staying married even more.
But he had another reason as well, one that went way deeper than mere image. Isabel's questions were valid. Could two strangers make it work? Would it be worth the battle? Or a failure in the end, regardless? Could he persuade her to take a chance?
For someone whose inner dialogue insisted failure wasn't an option, he didn't like the odds.
Seagulls squawked overhead as they found their homes and the night quieted around him. Waves crashed against the shore, and the last remaining shards of color disappeared from the sky to leave a quiet haze of blue-gray darkness that acted as an odd veil of comfort.
Once again he found himself enjoying the peace of anonymity. A few people still lingered on the beach, though not nearly as much as before, and no one paid him any attention.
Couples walked hand in hand in the surf. Young families with flashlights released delighted squeals when they discovered crabs emerging from the sand. He was no one here. Just another person enjoying the beach, and it was the best feeling he'd had for a while.
Since Vegas.
Yet another gift Isabel had given him, whether she knew it or not.
Everett remained on the bench and watched the goings-on, something in his heart tugging at the sights and sounds, at the emptiness he'd felt in his life for so long. A hole that couldn't be replaced with work or exercise.
Isabel fascinated him. The moment he'd met her, she'd drawn him in with her bright smile and gray eyes. The unusual color made him think of a stormy sky, of lightning and wind and unknown adventure, her energy blasting through the air around her. Whenever she talked about her art and her plans for future work, she glowed from within, drawing him in until he hadn’t been able to look away.
Isabel’s sultry laugh and a mere glance from beneath her long,naturallashes had brought him to his knees. And when they'd gotten back to her room...
In his thirty-eight years, he'd never experienced anything as heady or as intoxicating. Which meant if he planned to see this through...
He pulled out his phone and found Michael's information in his contacts. Two rings later, his friend and colleague's voice filled the air.
"Hey, Everett, what's up?" Michael asked.
"Does Isabel know who I am?" Everett asked, getting straight to the point.
"Uh...she knows we’ve worked together, but I’m not sure how many details she knows.”
“Does she know I’m a billionaire?"