Page 22 of Maid For Each Other
That made them laugh like he was the most romantic man in the world, so I gave him an eyebrow raise that saidSee? I know what I’m doing.
“And the things Dexxie says,” I said, unable to stop the chuckle that wrapped around my words when I saw him literally flinch at the nickname. “Whenever I’m working in Denver, he has flowers waiting for me at my hotel with love poemshe wroteattached.”
“Poems?” his mom asked, looking surprised.
“The most amazing spicy poems you’ve ever heard,” I said, setting my hand over my heart. “He’s a legend with the desk clerks at the Denver Hilton, like a naughty Shakespeare. And sometimes when I get off the plane in Omaha, he’s just there at the airport, waiting for me, because he says he ‘missed me too much to wait another second.’ ”
“What can I say? She’s easy to miss,” he said with a grin, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer.
I looked up at him like this was normal, even though I was a little shaken by the unexpected physical contact. I said, “You reallyarea lucky guy.”
His lips were still in a smile, but I just knew he wouldn’t agree. I’d seen in his eyes that the naughty poetry was too far. I was pushing too much and knew without a doubt that King Declan would never bow to me.
Instead, he used his elbow to pull me even closer, nearly putting me in a headlock as he moved his mouth to my ear. To anyone watching, it looked like he was telling me the dirtiest of secrets.
But he said in that deep, deep voice, “You reallyarea little shit, you know that?”
When he pulled back, I met his gaze and grinned. “I do.”
“They are so cute,” his mom said to her friend, and I realized that the two ladies were beaming as they watched us, like we were two adorable baby giraffes at the zoo, on display for their entertainment.
“Come on,” Declan said to me, grabbing my hand and leading me away from them and toward yet another curious onlooker.
“You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?” he said as soon as we were out of their earshot, pinning a fake smile onto his face that would fool anyone.
Anyone but me.
I could see the tension in his face, and I could see the distrust that was still in his eyes when he looked at me.
“I’m just being the very best girlfriend I can be,” I said with a shrug. “That’s all.”
The rest of the cocktail party was smooth sailing. He introduced me to person after person, and I didn’t have to do anything other than look like I was enamored of him. I tried adding a few anecdotes, but he was onto me and shut it down really quick.
It was an exhausting couple of hours, but also a tiny bit fun.
I mean, how often did you get to pretend you were someone else? This was Cinderella territory, with Abi Green living the romantic life that was a world away from myactual life.
That being said, relief settled into every one of my bones when Declan leaned down and said, “Let’s go say goodbye to my parents and then we’ll take off.”
“Dex,” I heard from behind us as we reached them, and I turned to see an older gentleman walking in our direction. He had silver hair and glasses, and he was smiling like he was genuinely happy to see Declan. He looked sweet, so my smile came easily when he reached us.
“Warren,” Declan said, reaching out a hand to shake Warren’s, which made me snap to attention. So this was the Warren who seemed to require so much of Declan’s attention. “I’d like you to meet Abi. Abi, this is Warren Hathaway.”
“So nice to meet you,” I managed, holding out my hand in spite of the shock zipping through me as it all made sense.
Declan’s Warren was Warren Hathaway.
Thebillionaire.
The man was literally the richest person in the country.
Maybe the world.
“I can’t believe you’re real,” he said, giving me a warm smile that made his eyes squint at the corners. “Dex took so long bringing you around that I was starting to think you were a Niagara Falls girlfriend that he made up.”
I wanted to snort at that, but I just grinned and said, “You know Dex; he does things on his own timeline.”
“Did you bring me a muffin?” he asked.
