“How do I look?” Charlotte asked him with wide eyes when she walked down in that dress that hugged her body in the right places. He shrugged.“Good,” he said. “Let’s go. We’re getting late.” Xavier saw her face fall at his dismissal, but he pretended to be focused on something on his phone, appearing not to pay her any heed. ‘Good’ was an understatement. In that dress, she looked gorgeous, sensational, breathtaking, but he couldn’t possibly tell her any of that. She was beautiful already without any of the extras, but she always walked around with a dull expression on her face and a slouchy posture, constantly facing the ground, that it was hard to tell. Xavier had spent just less than a full day with her, yet he could tell how lowly she rated herself. He couldn’t blame her. After being with someone like his nephew whose confidence only came from putting people down, for two whole years, she had begun to doubt her self-worth. However, after wearing this dress and makeup, he knew
Charlotte did not know what made her agree to let him kiss her, but she did not regret it one bit. He lapped her lips with his, right under the scrutiny of everyone, holding her by the waist closer to him as if he wanted to remove any iota of space between them. The kiss sent jolts down her spine and she found herself holding onto his neck and deepening the kiss. The only other person she had ever kissed was Jonah but he was the last person on her mind as Xavier’s lips made love to her own. His lead was easy to follow. He nibbled her bottom lip, given her control over his upper one and she was more than happy to return the favor. It felt so intimate, so divine. She stood on her tiptoes to get to the same level as he was and she almost fell on her heels if he hadn’t been holding her. Kissing was usually just something she had to do before sex, but with Xavier, it felt like a declaration of their connection, his possession. He was showing everyone around that she belonged to him an
In Jonah Roman’s family home, two women - Julia, his sister, and Mia, his mother and Xavier’s sister, were getting ready for the occasion. “Your deadbeat uncle has finally found another gold digger to marry. I just hope this one will be worse than the last,” Mia said, as the makeup artist went to work on her face. “I thought he vowed never to get married after the last one humbled him,” Julia snorted. “Let’s see how long this one will last. He thinks having money will suddenly make him less of a loser.” “Once men get money that they didn’t work for, they begin to fall in love at every corner,” Mia said with obvious irritation in her voice. “I wish this one will actually suck him dry until he is left with nothing.” “He just had to set his engagement right after Jonah’s own. What a cheap copycat,” Julia scoffed. While they spoke back and forth berating Xavier, the makeup artist rolled her eyes. “If you hate him so much, why did you agree to go to the party?” She asked. Mia’s face
“What’s wrong?” Xavier asked her, holding her hands and looking into her eyes tenderly when she got to their seat. She almost fell for the look of concern on his face, but reminded herself he was only worried she would make the plan to fail and not because he cared about her. However, at this point when she now knew that the only people she thought cared about her had actually hated her from the start, she was ready to take anything. “I’m fine,” she said, plastering a smile on her face. “I almost fell down outside.” He nodded, although it was obvious he didn’t quite believe her.“I should have told you about the engagement party. I shouldn’t have just sprung it on you. I’m sorry,” he apologized, thinking that was the reason she was mad. “It’s fine,” she waved her hand and the smile on her face widened. Charlotte felt the opposite way about her engagement now. Nobody felt bad for her after being dumped by her jerk ex-husband but had berated her and praised him for finding someone
The rest of the party went by smoothly and the few people who were allowed to speak to her only congratulated her. No one mentioned what happened the day before with Jonah and she was thankful for that. Unfortunately though, everyone was interested in hearing the story of how they met, who she was, and what family she was from. Charlotte assumed they wanted to know how affluent her family was before she met Xavier. In response to their prodding questions, she just smiled each time and scooted closer to Xavier who faced anyone that questioned her too much. He didn’t have to say anything. Just a stare from him and they were gone immediately. When she wasn’t meeting new people, she was sipping a glass of champagne. Without knowing, she had downed more than five glasses of potent champagne or even more. She didn’t mind. It made her feel freer and soon, she was dancing and not having to attach herself to Xavier like a second skin anymore. At this point, everybody was mixing together an
It took Xavier a short while to realize that his wife to be was no longer close to him. This would be the second time she was disappearing from his side that night. Unfortunately, Carlos, his bodyguard had gone on leave for a few days, so apart from the general guards that were stationed around, no one was particularly looking out for her. The worst imaginations came to his mind. What if something bad had happened to her? She wasn’t used to this kind of life so anything could happen. It was even worse because she had been drinking a little too much. He wanted to stop her, but she seemed less controlled and more comfortable after each drink that he just let her carry on. It had been so easy for him to take her into his home after she fainted the day before. That meant it would equally be as easy for someone else with the wrong intentions. The thought of someone taking her away and doing things to her scared him. If anything bad happened to her. Then the sole aim of doing all of thi
“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked him, finally settling on confusion. “I asked you to marry me because you have just as much as I have to lose if the truth behind this arrangement gets out. We’ve both been at the receiving end of being betrayed so right now, you, like me, will want to do this right so we can get what we want without hurting anyone,” he said, “or soiling your name in the process.”She turned away. His words did not relieve her. He chose her particularly because of who she was and what she would stand to lose if she tried to turn against him. He chose her because he believed she wasn’t a trouble-maker, one who would end up becoming greedy and suing him for everything he had. He knew she was afraid of what everyone else thought of her and was willing to use it to his advantage. He hadn’t said those words precisely, but it was easy to deduce the hidden meaning behind them. Charlotte hated how disappointed she felt. She knew what she was getting into when she agreed to
Charlotte had heard him perfectly, yet she asked “What?” “I know you heard what I said, but I’ll repeat it for your sake,” he said, moving closer to her, until she could feel his breath on her neck. She felt her heart dip a little as the rest of her body reacted to him. “I didn’t lie about anything back there. You looked so good, it wouldn’t have made sense if I didn’t kiss you.” “Xavier,” she whispered, knowing they were playing at dangerous waters, yet not wanting it to end. “And guess what,” he continued, taking her warning as a prodding to go further. “You look even better under these lights.” Oh.“So what does that mean?” She challenged, craning her neck for him to have more space. He wasn’t touching her anywhere, was only fanning her neck with his warm breath, yet her body was on fire already. What would happen if he actually touched her? He smiled. She knew because his lips curved up on her neck. “You looked too good to resist back then, but now, you look and smell good e