“Wait-”
“I can’t let you tarnish his image, Ivy. That’d be bad for business.” She shrugs. “Not to mention a breach of your own contract.”
Across the kitchen, Sierra is glaring daggers at Lori, and my dad mutters something under his breath through his scowl before my mom puts a hand on his arm.
“You can’t actually expect me to do this.”
“This” is the industry gala event Lori and the rest of the team apparently want me to attend, with Blaine as my date. They want me to smile for the cameras, model some new products, and act like I don’t want to punch the obnoxious loser next to me in the mouth.
“The gala?” Lori smiles saccharinely. “I do, actually. We need you both there for exposure and branding power.”
“I won’t do it,” I snap, folding my arms over my chest.
“You’re contractually obligated, I’m afraid.”
“And what happens if she doesn’t,” Mom says icily.
Lori sighs like she’s an annoyance, which gets my blood boiling.
“Contractually obligated, Ivy,” she says again, slower. “I don’t think we need to go into what happens if you break that.”
“You actually want me to show up to some stupid event with Blaine and pretend we’re together.”
“I actually do,” she says sharply. She taps something on her phone before she stands, smoothing her business suit.
Efficient, cold.
“You’re very good at what you do, Ivy. You’re witty, pretty, choose products well, and people like you. But this is the other side of the business, unfortunately. And I’m sorry to say, it’s the side that doesn’t move or change.”
She nods at my family before turning to me.
“Tonight, Ivy. We’ll send a car.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Ivy
“Hey.”
He’s leaning against the main cabin looking out at the harbor, but he turns at the sound of my voice and grins.
“I’m starting to think you just have a thing for houseboats, the way you keep showing up like this.”
I smile as I stop over the side onto the boat. “Hey, you live here.”
I shriek as he suddenly scoops me up into his arms.
“And yet you keep coming around,” he murmurs. “You must kind of like me or something.”
He kisses me and I’m falling right back into last night. I’m right back in the moment with just him and I with nothing else in the world mattering, just like it used to be. And I want to shove him into that cabin and pull his clothes off and do everything I’ve been waiting so long to do with him all over again.
But that’s not why I’m here.
He stiffens at the frown on my face. “What is it?”
I sigh heavily, looking away. “I have to do something tonight.”
“Does it involve me and a nice long drive somewhere, and maybe you in one of those short little sundresses I keep seeing on your Instagram page?”
I bite my lip as I turn, shaking my head. “Sadly, no.”
“Well?”
“I have to go to Boston.”
His face looks puzzled. “Okay, when should we-”
“With Blaine.”
The puzzled frown turns to a scowl.
“Look it’s this stupid work thing. There’s an industry gala, and there’s going to be a lot of brand reps there, and Lori and the rest of the team think I should be there.”
“Right, with Blaine.”
He looks away, his eyes going distant.
“Silas, it’s not like that.”
He nods, his face still dark.
“It’s this contractual thing. We poll better with fans as a couple or something.”
“So you’re going with Blaine, as a fucking couple?” His eyes flash at me, and I can see the muscles of his shoulders bunch under his t-shirt.
“Silas, I have to do this. I’m contractually obligated to pretend I’m ‘with’ him tonight.”
“Yeah, well, shouldn’t be too hard,” he mutters.
I slide my arms around him, trying to grin into his scowling face. “Oh, c’mon. What are you, jealous?”
He turns back to me. “Yeah, Ivy, I am.”
I roll my eyes. “Of Blaine?”
“Yes!” he snaps. “Yes, I’m fucking jealous of Blaine, and every other guy who got to be with you while I was gone.”