I shrug like it’s no big deal and study my manicure. “I didn’t realize I did, but looks good with my skin tone.”
He nods thoughtfully as he adjusts his burnt orange tie.
“And my clothing sizes?” He volleys with his arms out as he does a slow spin, showing me how perfectly his navy suit with the orange tie and handkerchief fits.
“You left me at your house for three weeks with nothing to do and a closet filled with your clothes.”
“Fair enough,” he concedes then swings the door open. “After you, Mrs. Hale.”
Chapter 11
Oran
She almost got me. I almost threw out every resolution I made and consummated our marriage before we’d even left the venue. I’m chewing my food at the bride and groom’s table, but I don’t taste shit. Karessa hand is halfway up my thigh and the wedding guest would get a show if it weren’t for the tablecloths.
This is torture. We’re coordinating and I don’t mind. She’s wearing a floor-length burnt orange dress with cape sleeves and a split that shows off her sexy thigh. Karessa looks elegant yet delicious as fuck. I shift in my chair when her fingertips brush my hardening dick. Discreetly grabbing her hand, I push it away. I don’t know when or how, but apparently I’ve activated freak mode.
This will be a long six months.
My dad catches my eye as he stares at Karessa over the rim of his drink. He’s at the table with the other Founder families and they all talk around him. There’s a bunch of corruption and politics at that table, but they still don’t fuck with him unless they must. They’re not scared of him, they just know he’s a snake oil salesman who doesn’t believe in any types of codes or honor amongst thieves. He’ll double cross you without batting a lash. If he were to leave or die, I’d take his place at the table. You know you’re slimy when the originals rather deal with your child.
Like right now, he doesn’t respect me enough to not lust over my wife at my wedding. The very wife I had to marry to protect her from him. I grunt when her full hand presses against my dick. My vexation with my dad has me removing her hand with more force than necessary. Leaning over, I whisper for her to knock it off.
“It’s not happening, Trophy. I may have had a lapse of judgement in the room, but that’s not happening again. No wedding night. No sex. In name only.”
She bites the lip I long to suck back into my mouth, but I’m doing my best to set her free. When we make it through, she can be her own woman and marry for the right reasons. I won’t have to lock her in as a Hale forever. I know she wants to say something, but she’s hard-wired not to make a scene.
The announcement we’re about to cut the cake kills all conversation possibilities. We fake it for the camera and cut the first piece. The rest is cut and distributed by the caterers. People spread out once the dance floor opens. We cancelled the parent dances so I wouldn’t have to kill my dad at the wedding and skipped to the full party.
John Legend’s Save Room blasts in the hall and as I cross the floor to finish my conversation with Karessa, Esme yells that it’s her song and grabs me.
“Dance with me, brother-in-law.”
Shrugging, I spin her and begin dancing with her, my eyes are still tracking Karessa. My cousin Caerwyn Hale, the nicest Hale ever born, grabs her for a dance. Relaxing, I give Esme my attention. The way her eyes shine, it’s clear she wakes up full of mischief.
“It’s funny the way the universe works, don’t you think.”
“Sure,” I agree, not knowing where she’s going with this.
“You go from being her super crush who doesn’t know she exists to marrying her.”
“Her what?” I ask. There’s no way I heard her clearly.
“Her super crush. Like, she covered every single notebook she owned in ‘Karessa Hale’ and now she is Karessa Hale.”’
Esme confession rocks me to the core. She is right; I didn’t know Kare
ssa existed. I knew the LeClaires had daughters, but they were all too young for my attention. At five years older than Karessa, I was on my way to college by the time her hormones were kicking.
“Don’t look so worried, big brother. It didn’t last long. You killed all her hope when you pushed her in your pool.”
I have a vague memory of moving a girl away from me and her falling in the pool. I remember I wanted to help her, but my psychopathic ex was watching and waiting for her next victim. Had I shown anybody any special attention, she would have stalked and bullied her. While I feel bad that I’d done that to Karessa, I’m not sorry. Krisha would’ve eaten her alive.
“That was her? I used to wonder who fell in my pool.”
“I’ll let it slide as you being an asshole teenager. We don’t have any brothers and I know I’m the younger sister, but it’s my duty to tell you that if you hurt my sister, I’ll make Lorena Bobbitt look like a pussycat.”
My balls hurt from the threat.