I give him a warm smile. He’s good to my sister. Most guys I know aren’t that patient with teenagers. I text back, Will do. And don’t forget to behave.
You know I’m perfect.
A grin tugs at my mouth. Parker places a small plate of cold appetizer in front of me, and I murmur my thanks as the phone vibrates in my hand again. The smile still on my lips, I look down. All my good humor vanishes.
Did you talk to your husband?
I stare at Dennis’s text. I’d forgotten about him over the last few days. With so many things going on, he hasn’t even been on my radar. Besides, the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced Elliot has nothing to do with the situation at his company. Gavin and my husband seem to be pretty close, but that doesn’t mean Elliot gets to interfere with how Gavin runs his firm.
“Everything okay with Nonny?” Elliot asks.
“She’s fine.” I force a smile, then look down at the phone screen. I quickly type, Elliot isn’t involved. You have to figure this out on your own. I can’t help you, then hit send.
I drop the phone back in my purse. It bu
zzes again.
Elliot glances at my purse, one eyebrow raised.
“Teenage drama. I think it’s fine to ignore her for a while. I am on my honeymoon, after all.” I smile while lying through my teeth. I don’t want to deal with my ex from high school when I’m with Elliot. He’s right about us needing to focus on our present. My past can’t change, and I won’t let it drag me down.
The meal service lasts for two hours. We chat about our favorite movies and food and activities, the things that we’d know about each other already if we’d dated like most normal couples.
Finally, after Parker serves a collection of gourmet chocolate truffles and hot tea, I lean back. “That was amazing. I don’t ever remember eating so well.”
“It’s a pleasure to see you eat.” Elliot watches me, his eyes hot.
I glance at Parker, who is standing a safe distance away. “Were you having dirty thoughts?” I whisper, squirming.
“I’m always having dirty thoughts about you.”
The vibrator buzzes all of a sudden, and I gasp. I shift around, trying to make it less distracting, but it’s no use. Besides, my body’s always primed for Elliot. I can’t help myself from being hyper-aware of him whenever we’re together.
“It’s satisfying to know you like what I give you.” A surprised look passes his face. “More so than I thought it would be.”
“Didn’t your exes like your food, your jet and everything else?”
He shrugs. “To them all this is…expected. Nothing special.”
“I hope I never become that jaded.” I bite my lower lip. It’s silly of me to say that like we’re going to be together for that long. A year sounds long, but it’s really nothing.
His eyes shutter.
“So.” I take a sip of the tea. “Why did you wait until you were twenty-one to sell your company?” I blurt out, trying to cover up the awkwardness and divert my attention away from the vibrator’s pleasurable buzzing. “You could’ve sold it earlier, right?”
He nods, but his hot gaze tells me he knows what I’m doing and he’s willing to go along to see how long we can carry on a conversation. “There was lots of interest, but we had to make sure that the proceeds from the sale would be ours, not our parents’.”
“Eighteen would’ve made you adults.”
“Yes, but twenty-one ensured that nothing our parents could come up with would work. Lucas and I had no desire to give either of them a penny.”
“You guys are identical twins, right?”
“Yes.”
“You must’ve been pure terror, too smart and too good-looking.”
Elliot laughs. “We had our moments, but running the company kept us busy. You have no idea how much work it takes to remain anonymous on top of everything else we had to do. None of the workers ever saw us. None of them would’ve been surprised if we were two hermits living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with only a satellite connection for internet. They had no idea we were just college nerds. Besides…” He dumps more sugar cubes into his tea. “Even if we’d wanted to sell earlier, we couldn’t. It’s not a well-publicized story, but we had some problems with our CFO, who turned out to be an embezzling asshole. If he’d gotten away with it, he would’ve made a small fortune from the sale since he would’ve gotten a slice of the sales price. All the C-suite guys had that going for them, but Lucas and I would’ve been damned if he got anything after he’d already stolen from us.”