Chloe had just shut herself in a stall when she heard the bathroom door open. High heels clicked across the floor. She'd just started thinking she'd struck out when a woman spoke.
"Love, my ass. He hasn't dated anyone in months."
Chloe's heart rate kicked up a notch. Ever so quietly, she stepped onto the toilet seat so they wouldn't see her feet and prayed her high-heeled shoes would provide enough traction to keep her from landing in the bowl.
"Can you imagine?" asked a different voice. "A reporter?"
Great. They were definitely talking about her, but more importantly, about Knox. He really hadn't dated anyone in months. She felt impossibly warm and tingly for someone who was crouched over a toilet.
"I bet she's a gold-digging slut," said Thing One.
"Not that you'd have to be to climb into bed with that man." A dramatic sigh followed. "Do you think that's her real hair?"
"Of course it is. What reporter could afford extensions?"
Thing Two pshaw'd the notion. "I don't know. They look pretty bad."
The extensions she didn't have? Chloe rolled her eyes.
"I think one of her eyes is larger than the other," Thing One said. "Did you notice?"
"I was too busy staring at that ring. It's kind of garish, don't you think?"
"It would be exquisite on my finger," said Thing One. "But on a reporter? It's awful."
Sure it is. Chloe glanced at her finger and grinned. She had a thousand and one reasons to mind her manners, but somehow she didn't expect the truth of this exchange to leave the room. With nothing to lose, she stepped off the toilet and opened the stall door, enjoying very much the subsequent surprise that etched the overly painted faces of the Pierce daughters.
"I don't know," Chloe said sweetly, holding up her ring next to her face. "It kind of draws attention away from the bad hair and the asymmetrical eyes. Of course, I must be a lousy gold digger-you can barely see the metal for all the diamonds."
Neither Thing uttered a word.
For all their highfalutin manners, society left a lot to be desired.
Chloe suppressed a laugh as she washed her hands and left the room, knowing full well the two cats had likely found their tongues the minute after the door shut behind her.
Knox stood nearby in the hallway. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.
"I met Senator Pierce's daughters. Apparently I have bad hair extensions, asymmetrical eyes, and questionable morals."
"You have hair extensions?"
She rolled her eyes. "Is this the part where I get offended because you didn't argue my morality or dispute the poor configuration of my face?"
He grinned. "I happen to know your eyes are perfect, and I don't question the state of your morality, but I don't think I'd know hair extensions if I saw them."
"Rumor has it you can see the bad ones from across the room. And rest assured, my hair-however faulty-is my own."
"I think your hair is as beautiful as the rest of you." He shook his head and … chuckled? Who the hell chuckled? "Senator Pierce's daughters, huh?"
"Maybe they'll scratch one another's eyes out trying to win your affection. Then we'll see who's asymmetrical."
He made a whooshing sound under his breath. "What's the classic sitcom reaction to that? Meow?"
"If you want a classic sitcom reaction, tell me something I don't want to hear about the fate of my dessert."
"You mean there's a woman inside the beltway who will actually touch a dessert?"
She glared.
He laughed. "It'll still be there when you get back. The women at the table started talking about wedding stuff-not ours, not that it would have helped-so I made my escape. Do you want to dance?"
The last time they'd danced in public had been in that dive bar, and they'd barely made it out of there with their clothes on. "That might not end well," she said.
He grinned devilishly. "No self-control?"
"Isn't that how you like it?"
"You've got me there," he said. And he led her onto the dance floor anyway, immediately pulling her close.
She put her arms around him, lacing her fingertips behind his neck. With the feel of his long, hard body moving as one with hers, she quickly forgot her concerns about flashing the diamond or missing dessert. Her heartbeat thundered and drowned out the din of conversation. On some level, she knew she should be scoping out the crowd, but she was a lot more interested in the man who was in danger of losing his third shirt in two days.
Her fiancé. The guy with all the complications.
"How long are we staying in DC?" she asked. She'd yet to break the news of their engagement to Lila, who had probably worn calluses on her texting fingers with the effort to find out what had happened with Jeff. Chloe's parents were also due a call. Despite the fact they lived halfway across the country, she probably didn't have long to break the news before someone else did.
"Unless you have a conflict, we can leave tomorrow. What do you think about renting a furnished house outside the city?"
Anywhere, as long as it has a bedroom.
God, he was hot. And just like that, she really was questioning her morals. She'd agreed to marry him for access-not cash-but she'd just eaten a dinner at better than a hundred dollars a bite and she had enough ice on her ring finger to sink the Titanic.
Maybe she really didn't have any morals. But she had a chance.
And she was taking it.
Chapter Seven
Somewhere in Lila's proximity, glass was shattering. It had to be, with her shrieking. "You what?"
Chloe thought twice about dropping the phone and covering her ears. Whatever Lila would say next, Chloe probably wouldn't want Knox to hear, and with the racket Lila was making, he'd hear it for sure. "I said yes."
"Why the hell would do you that? What happened to Jeff?"
"Don't ask. I think he would have left me for Knox in a heartbeat-in fact, I'm pretty sure that's what happened."
"You do realize that tells me absolutely nothing of what happened."
"Jeff was starstruck. Knox handed him a business card and told him to call him later. It was almost humiliating."
"Only almost?"
Chloe shrugged, though Lila couldn't see her. "I got the man."
Lila laughed. Or maybe sobbed. "You got the wrong man. Please tell me this is some kind of revenge thing. I get Jeff was a bit … grounded … for your taste, but I figured that was what you needed. You know, to get over Knox. Over. Not under. This is utter insanity."
"As far as you're concerned, this is the natural evolution of a relationship that's been kept quiet for the last few months."
Lila grunted.
Chloe sank onto the edge of a bed that probably cost more than her car. Her old car, that was. Knox had provided a brand new one, which had been delivered to the house within a couple hours of him signing the lease. They hadn't needed long to house hunt. As far as she was concerned, one million-dollar mansion looked the same as the next, and considering Chloe's entire apartment would have fit easily into her new closet, she hadn't felt the need to argue the finer points. The second home the Realtor showed them was both fully furnished and immediately available, so they'd taken it.
"Think about this, Chloe. Really think about this-about how he left you. What changed? I don't doubt you have feelings for him, but what did he do to deserve you? There's got to be more to this story."
Of course there was. But she had signed a nondisclosure agreement, the terms-and consequences-of which left her praying she didn't have a habit of talking in her sleep. "He said he was ready to get married, and I was the only person with whom he could see that happening." That part, at least, was true. Chloe sighed. Who the hell was she mad at? Knox hadn't lied to her, and she hadn't exactly surrendered her self-respect by saying yes. As far as she was concerned, she had more to gain than he did. Even if she did have to deal with media scrutiny, they'd quickly grow tired of her. She was an only child with an uneventful, lower-middle-class upbringing, and parents who believed in staying together for better or worse … nothing newsworthy there.
"I am marrying him because I love him," she said quietly. Because that was what she was supposed to say.
"Chloe, after what he did to you … "
She sighed. She didn't have many close friends, and her marriage was the last thing that should come between her and the best of them. "Look, Li. He said he made a mistake. I believe he's genuinely sorry, and you know better than anyone that I've never stopped loving him." Ouch.
"Fine. Love him. But do you have to marry him? If he loves you now, he'll love you in six months and then … Oh, hell, now I sound like my mother." Lila blew sharply. "I may never forgive you for that."