39. Kash
Chapter Thirty-Nine
KASH
I don’t have the time, but I want to see the wonders of the world.
I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights!
“Do I look okay?”
I looked at Naina, in her pretty, pale blue brunch dress. The front went all the way to her neck, but there was no back to speak of. Her arms were bare, her tattoos on display.
“You look perfect.”
She turned to look in the mirror again, smoothing the dress down her hips and thighs.
“Does it look like I’m trying too hard?”
I straightened from where I was pulling out a jewelry box from a drawer and turned to face her fully.
“You look incredible. They don’t deserve to be in your presence.”
A soft smile tipped up her lips and Naina reached up, pulling her hair into an up-do. I wished I could leave her here in the room because I didn’t want her around my family and their drama.
I even considered bribing her, though I doubted there was anything I could bribe her with.
Something in my chest ached when I thought that she came here to keep me safe from them. It also gave her the perfect excuse not to go back to California and start renovations on the Windfield.
I walked up behind her, kissing her shoulder as I set the jewelry box on the counter. Naina eyed it like it was going to bite her.
“What is this?” Picking it up, she opened the box, her eyes widening at the sight of the diamond earrings inside.
“They match your nose piercing.”
The earrings were shaped like a flower, a large solitaire in the middle with smaller diamonds surrounding it.
Naina looked up, her eyes meeting mine in the mirror.
“They look expensive.”
I brushed the back of my fingers over her exposed back, marveling at her soft skin. Naina shivered, her skin pebbling.
“I’m not going to make you wear something cheap. You should be dripping with jewels.”
“Good thing I had the forethought to marry a billionaire,” Naina quipped.
She put on the earrings, turning her head this way and that to admire them. Those diamonds didn’t compare to Naina’s glitter and shine. They were lifeless rocks, and Naina was a vibrant force.
Naina turned, adjusting the collar of my shirt and fussing over my coat, smoothing the arms and back. I held back my smile. Once she was satisfied, I took her hand in mine, leading her down to the ballroom.
The brunch was a tradition, just like inviting our investors to stay for a week before the grand opening. It was to show them what an SFV hotel had to offer, what their investment resulted in.
Six months ago, this room would have been fuller than it was. I wasn’t unaware of the invitations that had been denied, and neither was my father.
Leslie, Diana, Aunt Amelia, and Vera were standing right at the entrance to the ballroom and while I would have walked Naina right by them, I couldn’t possibly ignore them with hundreds of people in the room watching our every move.
I didn’t miss the way curious eyes looked over Naina.
I pulled her to my side.
“Kash, you’re a little late, aren’t you?” Diana looked over Naina, eyes resting disdainfully on her tattoos. It wasn’t like she was covered in Pagan symbols.
“I can always rely on you to remind me of the time.”
Diana’s face soured.
“That’s a great dress,” Leslie said. “The tattoos ruin it, though. You need class to carry off a dress like that.”
Naina leaned in towards me, dropping her voice to a stage whisper.
“Did the woman talking trash about me just try to teach me about class?”
My eyes met Vera’s just before my cousin turned away to hide her smile.
“You’re a waitress, aren’t you?” Leslie smiled sweetly. “At least I have status, education, and comportment.”
“There are more things between heaven and earth than are thought of in your condescending mind,” my wife replied.
Vera looked up at the ceiling, mouthing a quiet ‘thank you’. Instead of being angry, I was thoroughly entertained. Naina could handle these people, and she had me as back up if she needed. They couldn’t handle her.
“Naina has all the comportment, and now all the status. As for education, she went to law school,” I said.
“No doubt some cheap, wayside school that has no regard for the kind of students it lets in,” Aunt Amelia said.
“Oh, no. I didn’t go to Yale,” Naina said. “I went to Harvard law school.”
I couldn’t stop my laughter. No one trash talked better than my wife.
“If you’ll excuse us.”
I pulled Naina away from them into a corner where I could kiss her.
“You’re amazing. Brilliant. Mind-blowing,” I murmured on her lips.
“And you’re the luckiest man on the planet.”
I really, really was.
Not that I needed luck as long as I had Naina by my side.
Vera sidled up to us, taking a hold of Naina’s arm.
“This has been the happiest anyone has made me in a very long time,” she said. “I think I might actually cry.”
I rolled my eyes at her dramatics as Naina laughed. I felt my father’s eyes boring into my back even though I hadn’t seen him yet. I knew he was here in the room, and I wanted to keep Naina far away from him.
“Nobody trash talks my mother and Diana,” Vera said.
“I can’t even tell them apart.”
“It’s the hairstyle and fillers.”
“It’s creepy, is what it is,” I said.
Lex walked into the room, and I nodded to him, causing him to change directions, making a beeline toward us.
“Naina, so good to see you,” he greeted. “I see the Sutherlands haven’t sent you running yet.”
“How I wish I could run away,” Naina said wistfully. Her teasing eyes twinkled at me.
“I will make all your wishes come true, except for that one,” I said.
“Remember when you said you never wanted to get married, Kash?” Lex asked. We’d been at Yale together for about a year before he transferred to Columbia so he could be in Manhattan.
“Remember when you said number three was the one?” I arched an eyebrow. “What fiancée are you on now?”
Lex ground his jaw, narrowing his eyes at me. I grinned back at him.
“Four,” he said.
“Five,” added a feminine voice. “He always forgets Claudette.”
We all turned to find a tall, slim woman standing beside us wearing a black dress with a floral print, her blonde hair twisted into a bun.
“Thank you, Carter,” Lex clipped.
“Rosalie, it’s nice to see you outside of Lex’s office,” I said. Rosalie’s cheeks turned pink when I smiled at her, and Naina elbowed me in the side as Lex glared at me.
“This is Lex’s assistant, Rosalie Carter,” I said to Naina. “Quite possibly the only other woman in existence to put up with his sour demeanor. The first being his mother.”
“Lex, isn’t four ex-fiancée’s a lot? What are you doing to these women?” Vera wondered.
“They weren’t prepared to be a Kingston.”
Naina shrugged. “I wasn’t prepared to be a Sutherland, but our story is different. I’m sure you’ll find your Mrs. Kingston when she’s ready to be found.”
Lex tilted his head in acknowledgment.
“Thank you, there’s at least one person who understands.”
“What if you’ve already met her?” I asked. “How would you know?”
Lex looked at me, arching his brow as if to ask, ‘do you know?’ Of course, I fucking knew. But I hadn’t lost my Mrs. Sutherland. Not even for a second.