“You look very delicious yourself Mr Clark.” He was standing at the top of the step, that led down into the lounge area, he had one hand in his pocket and the other through his hair. He stepped down slowly and made his way over to me, he placed his free hand on the side of my head and kissed me on the cheek, then on my neck and lower again, it was so soft yet so sensual and incredibly romantic. He came back up to my face and rested his head on mine.
“Now that I have you, I am never letting you go.” He pulled out a jewellery box from his trouser pocket and my heart nearly when into cardiac arrest.
Sensing my complete shock, he smirked and opened the box, I can’t say I was disappointed when the most beautiful pair of diamond chandelier earrings were revealed inside.
“They are beautiful.” I went to touch them and he snapped the box shut on my finger. My mouth dropped and I couldn’t help but smile at him, he burst into laughter.
“I’m so sorry; I’ve always wanted to do that.” I laughed and punched him in the arm, he opened the box again carefully removed them and handed them to me. I was still giggling, he was so comfortable and relaxed and it really was lovely to be around.
“Shall we?” He put his arm out and I hooked mine around it, tonight was going to be one of the best nights of my life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
We entered the Atrium were the red carpet arrivals were to be held, I’d figured we would get through this section quite quickly as the celebrities were the star attraction, what I hadn’t bargained on was Bryce being somewhat of a celebrity himself and my dress attracting a lot of media attention.
“I have with me now, Bryce Clark the owner of this fabulous Complex and his date for this evening, Alexis Summers.” OMG, how embarrassing this is going to be televised. I clung to Bryce and used him as a shield, the television presenter for channel 7 kept talking, I recognised her but couldn’t recall her name.
“Alexis who are you wearing tonight?” She pointed the microphone in my direction, I cleared my throat.
“Versace and the shoes are Christian Louboutin.” My tiny voice was barely audible.
“Absolutely stunning, spin for us.” Bryce held up my arm and twirled me around, I couldn’t help but smile, however I did desperately want to get off the red carpet and out of the spotlight.
“Lovely, well there you have it Alexis Summers, definitely a contender for best dressed at tonight’s 55th Tel V Awards.” The camera went down. Thank Fuck! We kept walking but had to stop a couple of times for photos, Bryce held me close and as much as I liked it, I was feeling uncomfortable I was still technically married, we entered the Queen Victoria Ballroom and were escorted to our seats.
“Here you go Mr Clark, Ms Summers, enjoy your evening.”
“Thank you Paul.” Bryce nodded to the very polite and friendly usher, I loved how he knew what seemed like all of his staff by name.
“Do you have a photographic memory or something?” He was scanning the room, then turned to me, putting his arm around the back of my chair.
“No, why?” He looked interested in my answer.
“You seem to know everyone and more particularly your staff, by name.” He smirked and gently put his hand on my leg.
“It’s what I do Ms Summers.” I placed my hand on top of his.
“What else do you do Mr Clark?” I challenged him and licked my lips; this made his eye and cheek twitch.
“You’ll soon find out.” Those words had me squirming, as much as I was excited and thrilled to be here in this elegant ballroom amongst some very high profile celebrities, I couldn’t wait to go back up to the Penthouse. The intense stare Bryce was giving me was momentarily broken when he looked up, he then looked back down at me with pain and anger plastered across his face. I looked up to see what had caused this sudden change of atmosphere and Gareth was standing there with Samantha hanging on his arm and sporting the biggest grin I’d seen since Christmas Day.
“Good evening Bryce and Mrs Summers.” Smug arsehole. He pulled a chair out for Samantha and pushed her in.
“So Alexis, where is Mr Summers this evening? At home with the children?” Samantha turned grey and looked between Bryce and myself. You know what? Fuck him.
“If you must know Gareth, Mr Summers and I have been separated for quite some time now.” Slight exaggeration.
“So to be honest I’m not really sure where he is.” I wiggled in closer to Bryce and he moved his hand from the back of my chair to my shoulder. Gareth glared at me and waved a waiter down, Samantha smiled shyly. The table began to fill with other board members and their partners, at first the other gentleman seemed a bit sceptical of me as I’m sure Gareth had filtered lies into their heads, however as the evening progressed I had a good feeling I was winning them over.