"Oh no, sir. We're just good friends and roommates .We’re not a couple." I said.
"Oh. I apologize. I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you two looked really good together."
The driver had certainly said more than we needed to hear. Justin got out the vehicle still smiling as he helped me get out as well.
"Wipe that useless grin off your face!" I said slapping my purse across his chest.
"But how can I, my dear wife?" He winked at me expecting my reaction.
"Oh, shut up." I said as I tried to advance into the hall leaving him behind.
"I will not be accused of not being a gentleman." Justin rushed to my side and presented his arm to escort me.
I put my arm around his as we made our way into the mansion as we showed our invitation.
Ian's house was beautiful and magnificent just as I expected. We walked in and found everyone else socializing and reaching for a drink. Our entrance was well noted as we were late coming in. Many guests turned and stared at us in admiration and the talking dies down quite a bit.
The sudden hush was broken by Ryan as he raised a round of applause for me from where he stood. The others joined in, beaming smiles.
June rushed to me and hugged me while whispering into my ear, "You look stunning." I smiled and thanked her.
Ryan walked up to me next, smiling mischievously.
"I'll go get us a drink" Justin excused himself as he went to grab us a drink while briefly exchanging quick conversations with a few of his colleagues from his department.
"Now, whoever picked this dress for you definitely has the good sense. You look ravishingly beautiful my dear!" Ryan always knew how to make a woman feel good.
"With the rate at which everyone is flattering me today, I might just have to go home so I don't steal the show from our amiable host".
Ryan laughed, “Wow, calling Ian Maxwell, amiable?”
“Well, I… he…” I stammered. I was not sure how to continue, so I eventually stopped talking.
"It's nice to see that winning the deal isn't the only thing we have to celebrate from the London trip. You both seem to have warmed up to each other."
The way Ryan put emphasis on the words ‘warming up’ was a little suspicious to me.Did Ryan know something? Did Ian tell him something?
"I don’t understand. What do you mean? What has Ian told you?" Ryan laughed a little bit as he saw my reaction.
"Relax. He didn’t tell me anything. But it just seemed the friction between the two of you is less prominent now. You could barely say a nice word about him before, but you just referred to him as amiable now. I could also tell that Ian was not as angry about you when he came back. He seemed to change also.” I feigned indifference.
"Well, we’re supposed to be celebrating tonight. It would be nice for everyone to enjoy the party.” Ryan smiled.
"Actually, I just remembered something about Ian. His favorite color happened to be blue. Perhaps we may have just figured out who your secret admirer is." Ryan winked at me and walked away.
No, it can't be! I looked ahead, and there he was, walking towards me and staring at me. Apparently, he had been looking at me for a while. Maybe Ryan had seen him coming and decided to walk away.
"Come with me." And without even giving me the opportunity to oblige and follow him, he grabbed my hands and drags me along with him while everyone stared.
"Take it easy, these heels aren't so comfortable. You're going to make me trip." He turned sharply and looked at my feet.
"They aren't? That can't be right. Isn't your shoe size 7½?" He responded still paying attention to my feet with his hands holding my hands.
"How do you know that the shoe I'm wearing is a size 7½?" He let go my hand and walked briskly ahead of me.
"Hurry up please, I wish to introduce you to some people. They've been dying to see you." I don’t know what to think at this point. I just walked closely behind him to keep up with him.
"Everyone, this is Ashley Lane. She is the real brain behind the UNIQUE project in our contract."