Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
AMELIE
Now that our marriage was public, Kai wasted no time dragging me everywhere—company functions, fundraisers, every social event on the calendar. There wasn’t a single person left in Darster who didn’t know about us.
Tonight, it was a charity event at a five-star hotel. Kai had sent a car for me as he was in Los Angeles and would drive straight to the gala.
Just like Stefan, Kai’s work regularly took him out of town.
Unlike Stefan, Kai couldn’t stand to be gone.
He often went to LA on business, and when I wasn’t working, I’d tag along.
We’d make a mini vacation of it, staying overnight and frequenting the food scene.
If I couldn’t join him, he’d drive home the same night or the first thing the next morning, the moment his meeting wrapped up.
He never said it but made it clear in no uncertain terms that he hated being away from me.
I’d wake to find him sliding into bed at three in the morning, ripping open a shirt wrinkled from the long drive.
Being away from me was something he couldn’t physically withstand.
Ironically, the last person to make me feel this desired was Stefan.
Back when we were in a long-distance relationship, and he couldn’t tolerate another week without me, he’d work around the clock at his part-time job to scrape together the airfare.
Even if it brought him only twenty-four hours with me, he’d come.
I could still picture him at the arrival gate, scanning the crowd until he found me, breaking into a half run like the flight had been too long to survive.
Those memories felt distant now. Stefan had changed so much that they seemed to belong to an entirely different person.
I shook the thought loose and turned back to the mirror, inspecting the outfit I would once have considered too risqué.
Kai had stayed in LA overnight and was meeting me directly at the gala, which meant I had the rare chance to surprise him.
He had been eager to see me in this dress, and perhaps because I’d missed him more than I’d like to admit, the outfit had ended up off the hanger and on my body.
The reflection was of a woman who was far from virtuous. This little number was a statement dress, to say the least. Fitted corset. Emerald satin. A plunging neckline that was somehow still classy enough for a gala. The hem pooled around my feet with a slit up my right thigh.
The old me would have hidden under a shawl, but the old me was never thoroughly ruined by the man who’d bought the dress.
The daring look complemented my new sex life.
My life had changed, and my wardrobe should reflect it.
Kai had bought every piece of this ensemble for me, down to the strappy heels and gold bangle around my wrist. He just didn’t know I’d be wearing this outfit tonight.
Kai was already in the hotel lobby when I arrived.
His gaze caught me the instant I walked through the doors, as if he had been waiting at the edge of his seat for my arrival.
Whatever he’d been saying to the man beside him stopped mid-word when he saw what I was wearing.
He went still. Not a courteous mid-conversation still, but one that sucked all the air out of the room.
His gaze dropped to the slit and climbed back up, unhurried, taking the scenic route.
“Hi,” I managed, suddenly feeling stupidly shy.
He didn’t say anything in return. He left the man and crossed the elaborate marble floor toward me as his entourage of assistants and security looked on. I stood there with nowhere to put my hands, which was somehow the worst of the anticipation.
“Do you have any idea what you look like right now?” Even though he was still ten feet away, I heard his low voice perfectly well. His voice always went quiet when he was barely holding on.
“Too much?” He was five feet away now, and I had to tip my chin to hold his gaze.
“That dress is the reason men do stupid things.”
I was within reach now, and he immediately pressed me against the nearest wall and kissed me so lewdly that my knees nearly buckled.
It was one of those kisses meant to leave a mark you couldn’t see, imprinting itself so I’d feel it for the rest of the night.
For a moment, I forgot where we were entirely and rubbed myself against his erection with a wantonness I no longer bothered being embarrassed by.
No one raised an eyebrow at the CEO’s inappropriate public display. His staff simply turned the other cheek while he spent a good five minutes fondling me in the middle of the lobby, stopping only with a frustrated growl.
His forehead dropped to mine, both of us breathing as if we’d run a marathon. His thumb found the bare strip of skin above the slit. “Whose idea was this damn dress?”
“Yours, actually. You bought it.”
“I have excellent taste and terrible judgment.” His thumb dragged along the slit, following the bare skin up to where it stopped. “Every man in that room is about to have a bad night.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I might gouge their eyes out if they stare for too long. And I doubt they’ll be able to help themselves.”
I rolled my eyes, which had become the norm during our interactions whenever he said something utterly insane. For his sake, I hoped he didn’t follow through, especially in front of his business associates and employees. “Should we just go home then?” I suggested, half joking.
“That would be the smart thing to do, but I have to give a fucking speech,” he said, agitated, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the ballroom.
None of his assistants made eye contact with me. The hotel staff pretended like Kai didn’t just dry hump me against the wall of their lobby.
I didn’t hear a word of his speech. He was staring at me the whole time, and everyone at my table knew it.
The entire room was aware of our sexual tension.
It was simmering, ready to burst. I couldn’t taste my food.
It didn’t help that the moment he joined me, his hand under the table had slipped inside my dress.
I couldn’t register the conversation with the other guests, and they must’ve thought the Prince of Darster’s wife was an utter idiot when I asked them to repeat the same question three times.
The night was one more magical addition to our inventory.
It came to an abrupt stop when my phone lit up on the white tablecloth, face up. I made the mistake of glancing down.
Stefan: How are the kids? Miss you like hell, Am. I love you.
While Stefan had given me space about everything that went down in Beirut, he still messaged me daily to tell me he loved me and to ask for updates on the kids, which I always provided. I’d never withhold anything about his siblings.
Kai’s hand went still against my thigh. Not withdrawn, still, the way a room went still when the temperature dropped before anyone understood why.
He’d read it. Of course he had, and he was watching the side of my face now with a look I’d never seen on him, something quiet and terrible working behind his eyes.
“The kids,” I explained too quickly before Kai could ask about the text. I turned the phone face down without replying to Stefan. “He only writes to ask about them.”
It was absurd to explain why my other husband was sending a measly text when I was in a polyandrous marriage. What else could I even do about it? Of course, Stefan would inquire about his siblings’ welfare.
Yet a part of me felt that I had somehow betrayed Kai. Our relationship had felt like a fairy tale over the last several weeks until our reality stared at us from my phone screen.
Kai’s gaze stayed on the side of my face.
He didn’t say a word. He picked up his wine, took a slow sip, and set it down with precision.
Then his fingers resumed their path up my thigh, except now there was nothing playful in it.
It felt less like seduction and more like a man laying claim to something he’d just been reminded he could lose.
It didn’t help that a couple of brave souls dared to hit on me.
I knew what they were thinking. What was Kai Cavendish doing with a totally regular woman?
Curiosity always made ordinary objects seem extraordinary.
The first stranger approached me when Kai was pulled away by a politician looking for a donation. He asked for my number.
I turned him down just as Kai had materialized behind me. My response didn’t matter, the rage simmered nonetheless. He had the man removed from the event.
He had done this before, removed men and rearranged rooms around me.
But tonight, something colder ran underneath the control, something barely leashed, and it wasn’t the dress or the attention from other men.
Some part of me had understood, the second that phone lit up on the tablecloth, that I’d be the one to pay tonight for three words I hadn’t even written.
There was something darker and more dangerous circling Kai than his normal jealousy.
Things only escalated from there. When he went to the bar to fetch us drinks, a man with a death wish started talking to me despite my rebuff.
Kai returned from the bar, and his deliberate hands practically shoved the man aside.
He dragged me to the center of the dance floor, indifferent to the room watching.
He caressed me openly, staking his claim for everyone to see.
“People are staring, Kai,” I whispered, alarmed.
“Let them.” His hand splayed possessively across my lower back, pressing me flush against his groin.
It had crossed the threshold of what was appropriate at a charity gala.
This was so unlike the controlled Kai that I could do nothing except stare dumbly at his face.
Was this all because of one text from Stefan, or was the attention from other men getting to him?
“These are your business associates,” I reminded him.