“Elizabeth, you don’t have to answer that. Just know that I love you and I’d be very happy if you wanted to. I like you in my home and I’d very much like to see you in it every day,” he says as he brushes some hair off my face then runs his fingers over my lips. I could melt. In fact, I think I am doing. That was far too beautiful a thing to say.
“Okay,” is my reply. That’s it. I’m still focused on his fingers and lovely thoughts of happily ever afters as he chuckles and hands me my champagne again, because at some point, I must have put it down in the midst of my amazement.
“So, Christmas?” Oh god, yes, I’d forgotten about that.
“Are you sure?” Because a family Christmas and all the emotions that go with it is the last thing I’d expect him to want. It’s another shocking thing to say the least.
“Yes, Belle and Conner, too. I normally spend it snow boarding with Conner anyway and I just thought, well you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just wanted to spend it with you and I thought it would be nice.”
I‘m across his knee in seconds and completely messing my face up on his lips. His quite lovely emotional being this evening is entirely overwhelming to me.
“You’re amazing. I can’t believe you’ve thought about doing this. It’s a brilliant idea and I love you so much for giving this to Mum.” He chuckles at my over exuberance and slides his hands up my thighs.
“We’ll have to do it ourselves. I always give Mary two weeks off at Christmas and Andrews goes as well,” he says as he gets dangerously close to my panties.
“Okay, I’m sure with our combined culinary genius we’ll manage a turkey dinner.”
“Okay then.” He frowns. I have no idea what about.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t have any decorations or a tree.”
“What, none?” Who doesn’t have decorations?
“Well no, I haven’t ever done that sort of thing before.” Of course he hasn’t because he’s on his own. That is changing from this moment on.
“So we’ll get it all tomorrow and start decorating, just the sort of thing to do on a Sunday afternoon,”
“Okay,” he says as the car pulls up at INK.
“Are you ready?” I ask again as he stares at the window.
“Yes, come on.”
~
INK has apparently turned blue. I’m not all that surprised really but I’m not sure how he’s managed it. There’s suddenly blue carpet in the foyer, blue tiles through the tunnel and even blue lighting making all the white surfaces look blue. Hilariously, he’s even gone to the trouble of putting pink highlights on the ceiling. God, he loves her. I can’t help but wonder if he’s going to pop the question tonight. I also can’t help but wonder if I should give her some warning about it.
I haven’t mentioned a word about my conversation with him. I didn’t tell him everything. It’s not my place to, but I told him enough to let him know why she’s the way she is. He adores her and I know that now, but I am a little worried that she might say no simply because she’s scared so I quickly scan around for her. And there she is, in a very tight and gorgeous cream silk dress that only Belle would have the guts or ability to pull off. I’d get it completely filthy within ten minutes of wearing it.
She sees me and waves as she lounges on the bar, talking to a woman in an orange creation of some sort. It’s revolting and I can see Belle trying desperately to not burst into fits of laughter at it. The rest of the bar seems absolutely packed with people who I assume either work for or with Bluetec, all beginning to shout drunkenly or doing that pretend dancing thing that happens when men think they’re actually reasonably good at it. I’m so glad we’ve arrived late on because it’s so much easier to deal with half drunken people than to have to do all that getting to know people thing. I do another quick scan for Miss Peters. Unfortunately, she’s nowhere to be seen and that sends my pulse racing for all the wrong reasons. I can’t have Alex turning into a maniac when all he’s been is utterly wonderful so far. She needs to meet him just like this, when he’s on top form and in full-on Alex White mode.
Conner ambles his way over to us and winks at me as he gives Alex one of his man hug things and I giggle at his choice of a bright blue suit and pink shirt. I have no idea how he’s managed it but amazingly, it looks quite good on him. I’m pretty sure Belle won’t agree with me at all.
“Beth, you look delicious,” he says as he gives me a hug.
“Thank you, Mr. Avery. You look… interesting,” I reply. It’s all I’ve got. His face is a picture of shock.
“You don’t like? These Scott girls have no taste at all, dude. Perhaps we should ditch them.” It’s not funny in the slightest so my eyes instantly narrow at him and then at Alex. He just chuckles and squeezes my hand.
“No, Conner, I’m pretty sure you just fucked up your own sense of appropriate this evening. It looks ridiculous, even for you,” he says with a smirk of the greatest proportions.
“Fuck off,” Conner replies as he straightens his jacket and tries for wounded.
“Happy to,” Alex chides as he moves towards the bar with me in tow.
“No, don’t go. I need you. Please don’t leave me. I love you, Mr. White,” Conner squeals like a girl from behind us as we all burst out laughing. Belle wanders across to us and beams across at him as he practically gropes her in front of us. I so love watching them together because seeing her giggling in a girly fashion is heart-warming to say the least.
“Right, what are we all drinking?” Alex shouts across the music as a sudden heavy bass line kicks in. “He’s paying so I’ve had the good stuff brought up,” he says as he pulls up the divider to the bar area and points at Conner. A very attractive barmaid in a very expensive looking outfit wanders over to him, smiles and then randomly kisses him on the cheek. My hackles are instantly on high alert. It’s disturbingly not okay at all but Alex simply smiles back and then wanders off into the back room.
“Who’s the bitch?” Belle questions beside me as she nods her head at the woman.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen her before, but I’m not happy about the kissing thing,” I reply as I narrow my eyes at her. She scowls back at me and that clearly makes the whole situation much worse.
“Ooh, I think there’s going to be a bitch fight.” Conner chuckles as he wraps his arms around Belle and looks across her shoulder at the woman.
“Who is she?” I ask as I find some sort of new anger and launch it at her through my eyes. Unfortunately, she just smirks and rolls her eyes as if I’m not even worth bothering with.
“That’s Serena Bradley, Tom’s sister. She works here on occasion when the big guns come in and spend their millions. She’s extremely good at what she does.” Belle elbows him hard and he recoils and stares at her.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Your really are an arsehole. Do you think I can’t smell your pheromones pouring across at her? You’re like a fucking dog in heat,” she bites back at him. I’ve never seen her so spitting mad. This is clearly the jealously she was talking about.
“Belle, don’t be stupid. I-”
She cuts him off just as Alex reappears and starts talking to the bitch again. I don’t know which way to look.
“You know what, have her. I couldn’t give a shit.” She grabs my arm to turn away so I stare at Conner, begging him to make this right. This is not how I planned this evening and I absolutely can’t leave the bitch with Alex. Thankfully, Conner has other ideas as to how this is going to pan out because the look of aggression that suddenly sweeps across his face is ferocious to say the least.
“Turn your backside back around and look at me,” he says, very authoritatively for him. It even makes me jump a little. Belle stills for half a second then starts moving again. “Belle, don’t make me fucking angry.” Oh, actually, that’s exactly the same voice Alex uses. He’s clearly on a dominant roll. Belle swings round and snarls at him so I let go and flick my
eyes to Alex who has now noticed the commotion and is on his way over, thankfully.
“Angry? You bastard. You do not tell me what to do. Fuck every slut in the place for all I care,” she seethes quietly. It’s quite impressive to be fair.
“Shut up.” Oh no.
“What? Don’t tell me to-”
“Shut the fuck up. Now.” He’s suddenly in front of her and growing. What is it with these men and that growing thing? She stares up at him with a scowl on her face and I swear she might even slap him. Alex wraps his arm around me from behind.
“What’s going on?” he whispers.
“Jealousy, from her,” I reply, equally quietly. “And from me. How’s Serena?” His eyes swing to mine with a look of surprise but I can’t hold it or argue about it because I’m too in tune with the other conversation that’s going on.
“Are you bloody growling at me for a reason? And don’t ever speak to me like that again, you-”
He cuts her off with, frankly, the most erotic kiss I’ve ever witnessed as he pushes her towards a wall while she protests, weakly. Other people get thrown out of the way and stand in shock at the couple as Alex chuckles beside me as if this is perfectly normal. Well, it probably is for him but obviously not for Conner. Actually, maybe it is but Belle just didn’t know it. I certainly didn’t.
“Is this behaviour normal for him?” I ask Alex quietly as I watch my sister get completely ravaged with a smile plastered on my face, and a rather unfortunate twinge in my groin as his fingers tighten on my waist.
“No, not particularly. I’ve only seen it once before,” he replies with another one of his stupidly sexy chuckles. I’m still mad about the bitch thing but I can’t help fidgeting at the thought of what’s happening in front of me. “It’s quite stimulating, isn’t it? Watching?” he says as he drags a finger up my leg. I can’t even begin to process being horny about my sister and her boyfriend, but I am. There’s no doubt about it and his wandering fingers are only emphasising that point. Conner eventually releases her and steps back to get control of himself. She stares at him as if she’s going to launch into another tirade so I cringe a little and wait for it.
“Don’t you ever-”
“I love you. Marry me.”
My hands fly to my mouth so quickly I actually smack my teeth. She gawps at him, Alex sucks in a breath, presumably in astonishment, and then Conner drops down onto one knee.
Belle’s eyes almost pop out of her head as her hands go up to her mouth and she looks down at him in amazement. Tears are brimming my eyes as I watch on and hope to god that she says yes. I think I can even see tears in hers as she glances over at me. I can’t help smiling back at her and nodding my head in encouragement. Alex’s arms wrap tighter around me and feel him rest his head on my shoulder as he watches, hopefully with the same amount of interest.
“Annabelle Scott, will you please be my wife?”
Oh my god. My tears erupt as he opens that little red box and shows it to her. She gawps again. A handkerchief comes over my shoulder so I take it and hold that to my mouth instead, trying to stop the never-ending flow. Is she going to say something? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her lost for words before. Please say yes, please say yes.
“What do you think?” Alex asks into my neck as he kisses it, somehow sensing my internal question. I narrow my eyes. He’s far too good at that.
“I... I don’t know. I hope so,” is the only answer I’ve got as I continue to watch her look between the box and Conner’s eyes. He takes the ring out and grabs her hand. It’s a forceful move; I’ll give him that, and I just hope it’s what she needs at the moment to help her decide.
“Will you?” he asks again. “Let me put this on your finger. I only want you.”
My tears erupt again. I don’t think I can even watch anymore but I do and then she nods. It’s so small I doubt anyone else saw it, but I did. She glances at me again so I smile and mouth yes at her in the hope that she gets the hint. She looks down at him again with the most radiant grin I’ve ever seen from her.
“Yes.”
God, it’s a simple word but it means so much in this moment. Conner beams up at her and slides the ring onto her finger, and of course I erupt again into fits of tears. My sister’s getting married to a blue-haired genius, and a lovely genius he is, too.
The entire room bursts into raucous applause and cheering. I hadn’t even realised they were all looking or that the music had been turned off. When did that happen? I spin into Alex and cry my tears of joy straight into his shirt as he chuckles above me and strokes my hair, kissing my head softly. I try to stop but it’s clearly not happening very quickly so he just keeps stroking and softly whispering lovely words to me while I try desperately not to think of myself in the same situation as my sister. It’s not going to happen anytime soon but given our earlier conversation, I can’t help my brain rambling away in my head. Eventually, I pull in a long breath and decide it’s probably time to actually congratulate the happy couple again.
“Are you okay now?” he says with another chuckle as I lift my head to look up at him.
“Yes, sorry about the shirt. I’m just a bit... overwhelmed.” He smiles gloriously and leads me over to them so I let go and literally fly into Belle’s waiting arms as we hug each other nearly to death.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe he did that,” she says with an amazing smile firmly plastered on, and gazes at the beautiful diamonds on her hand.
“I know. Shit, I thought you were going to say no for a minute,” I reply as we watch the man hug thing that’s happening between Alex and Conner. They’re both beaming at each other and it strikes me what this probably means to both of them. Presumably they’ve both been players for an awfully long time, and that time has come to an end. Well hopefully, anyway. Alex looks over and smiles with that loving smile of his that makes me melt as he extends a hand at the same time as Conner. We both giggle and walk over like stupid schoolgirls. It’s all completely lovely.
It’s then that I notice her about two rows back. Frankly, there’s no way I could miss those eyes because I’m so attuned to her brother’s that I’m struggling to maintain eye contact with her. She simply quirks her brow up and sips her champagne in that absolutely superior way that Alex does, so I let my smile broaden in the hope that she’ll return to the nicer version I met earlier on today. Unfortunately, I realise all too late that means I’ve probably just announced I’ve already met her. Maybe he won’t notice, if I’m lucky.
“That smile’s only meant for me, Elizabeth. Who are you giving it to?” he says as he turns his head to search for what I’m looking at. There’s no point lying because he sees her instantly and then stiffens immeasurably. If it wasn’t such an awkward situation, I’d be very horny, very quickly.
She watches him as he stares back at her. It’s really very disconcerting because, honestly, there couldn’t be two more intense faces in the world at the moment and they really could be twins. Her face tilts slightly as if she’s weighing him up as she raises her glass again and takes another sip. Apparently even she can’t hold his full frontal assault with a completely impassive face and god, that makes me feel a little bit better about myself. However, she does surprise me with her next move, which is to suddenly walk directly towards us with a smile that would charm the gods, and yes, it’s just like Alex’s. His body doesn’t change in the least but I can’t stop the flutter of my heart as his hold on my hand increases.
“My brother,” she says a little sarcastically as she stops in front of us and continues staring at him, still with that smile. I have no idea what’s going on his mind because he has become absolutely unreadable all of a sudden. That mask is very firmly in place, which makes me question all sorts of reactions.
“Mmm, it would seem so,” he replies as he holds her eyes. I flick mine over to Belle and Conner, who are gaping like fools at the scene beginning to unfold. I have to break this staring thing and get them somewhere quieter than this becau
se it really could go very wrong if I don’t do something.
“Evelyn, it’s lovely to see you again. Shall we go somewhere a little quieter?” Alex flinches at my words and then I hear what I’ve just said, again, shit. Well now I’ve definitely given it away. Clearly we’ll be discussing that at some point, but for now I’m more bothered about making this nice between them. She’s his family after all.
“Beth, you look very beautiful, and yes I’d love to,” she says as she leans her head in to air kiss me. This is new. We only did hand shaking earlier. And then I comprehend that she’s trying to make Alex uncomfortable, trying to get the upper hand because she knows he’s out in the cold on this one. Oh, what a prize bitch, unbelievable, and what’s worse is that I started it. Idiot, Beth.
“I think this is between us, Evelyn. Elizabeth has nothing to do with it,” he says sharply as he lets go of my hand and gestures for her to move away with him without even glancing my way.
He’s mad at me. Sodding great. Well I’m glad I went to the trouble of making sure she came tonight for him. She nods at me and then casually wanders off with him towards the booth area while I gaze at his back, hoping he’ll give me some sign of love. He doesn’t at all. He doesn’t even look back, and suddenly life seems utterly bloody awful. All afternoon and evening has been joy, laughter and fun, then my sister gets engaged, which is obviously wonderful, and now this happens. Fuck.
“Don’t worry about it, Beth. He’s just anxious,” Conner says as he pulls me in for a hug. Belle squeezes my hand at the same time. “He still loves you. He just hates not knowing shit.”
“That’s why I bloody asked you whether I should tell him or not, which you didn’t bloody answer,” I blurt out loudly as I narrow my eyes at him. He frowns back at me as if he has no clue what I’m saying. “The text, Conner, why didn’t you respond?”
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