He wasn’t concerned for his own sake. He didn’t care what people thought of him. If there had been a bright side to Irina’s constant scenes, it had been to forever inoculate him against embarrassment. His depth of concern for public opinion only went as far as caring how it affected the company. It was his job to watch for bad publicity and fix it.
Amelia, however, was not so impervious to censure. He’d seen it when she had caught glimpses of online troll dung. She wanted to reflect well on him and Hunter wanted to say a weary,It doesn’t matter. People would talk behind their hands regardless.
He heard her on the stairs and turned, catching a glimpse of her legs. Never mind stopping traffic. Those stems stopped his heart, playing peekaboo through the uprights as she picked her way down in a pair of gold sandals with rhinestone buckles against her ankle and a lethal heel.
The rest of her appeared in a short, sleeveless dress in a nude color with gold beading in geometric patterns. The weight of the beads caused the fabric to rest against her curves in the most arresting way.
Her hair had been cut before the wedding, removing the blond, leaving a rich brunette curtain that landed on her shoulders and flipped up with a vintage flair. Her makeup was only slightly heavier than what she applied herself, but it managed to make her eyes look bigger and darker, her lips plumper, and her skin radiant.
“Unity picked it out,” she said self-consciously as she came to a halt halfway toward him. “I thought it disguised the fact that I was still carrying some baby weight, but it’s too short, isn’t it? Now that I’ve put on heels?”
“Define ‘too short.’ Because I think you look hot as hell.”
“I’m supposed to look like yourwife.” She plucked at the hem.
“My wife can’t be hot? Change if you’re uncomfortable, but I think that’s perfectly on brand. For you, actually, not just for my wife. You were wearing something much shorter when we met, and it suited the hell out of you, same as this.”
“Big surprise that all you can remember about me is my legs.” She flicked her hair behind her shoulder.
“Excuse me, but your legs are not the only thing I remember. They’re not even the first thing that drew my attention.” They were the second. “I heard you laugh and it was so engaging, I turned my head to see what the joke was.” Then he had caught an eyeful of her smiling profile, her pretty legs and ample breasts and straw-colored hair. He had immediately tried to pretend to himself and Remy that he wasn’t mesmerized.
She made a noise of uncertainty, looking down. “You really think this is okay? Because I feel like people are going to talk about me behind my back.”
“They absolutely will. Let’s give them something to talk about.” He waved her to come closer and reached for the box he’d left on the end table.
“Oh,” she murmured as she realized it was a jewelry box.
“This is where I went today.” He opened it to show her the necklace with rose-gold links in a basket weave pattern. Seven pink and white stones were interspersed between them across the front half.
“It’s beautiful, but— Wait,” she said, balking when he drew a circle in the air, indicating she should turn and lift her hair. “Those aren’t real, are they?”
“You think I bought you glass and plastic? They’re diamonds and pink sapphires, yes. Why? Don’t you like them?”
Her eyes grew wide enough to swallow her face. “I’m already nervous, Hunter. I can’t walk around wearing something so expensive. What if I lose it?”
“It’s insured. And I don’t know any jewelry designers who go to the trouble of making art hoping it will sit in a safe. Show it off. Turn around.”
She did, and he set the chain against her throat, closing it behind her neck, then setting a kiss there, wanting to linger and breathe in her fragrance of almonds and whipped cream.
“Is it a special designer? Why are people going to talk about it? What should I say if they ask?”
“That it’s your push present.”
“What? Hunter!” She whirled to face him. “Push presents are a fad created by advertisers to sell stuff to gullible dads.”
“It worked. But I am very grateful for our daughter, you know.” He traced a line along the inside of the necklace so it was a perfect arc beneath her collarbone.
She shivered, and he would bet this necklace that her nipples had just peaked behind her nursing pads. It was a heady enough thought to have him considering blowing off the party and heading back upstairs.
“I’m grateful for her, too,” Amelia said with a hint of impatience. “Does that mean I owe you a trinket for your manly effort in punching through a condom?”
“Ha!” The remark caught him so off guard, he couldn’t help laughing. Damn, but she knew how to lift him out of whatever ruminations he was trying to wallow in. “I appreciate the thought, but no.”
“Well, I didn’t need anything, either, but thank you.” She set her hand on his lapel and lifted her mouth to invite his kiss. Her pleased smile at making him laugh was so cute, he took a mental picture.
For one second, he thought,I don’t need anything else, either. Only you.
“There’s more,” he said, eschewing the kiss and clearing his throat. He stepped back to take her hand while he fished in his pocket. Then he slid the diamond ring onto her finger.