Chapter Twenty-Two—Jace

I drove us back to work, because I was a little scared for my life. Lidia needed practice on maneuvering such a big vehicle, maybe I should have thought more into buying her such a beast.

Nonetheless, she was sexy driving it.

Lidia and I walked back up to our office, and I felt my nerves begin to grow with each passing second. I knew Grandfather wouldn't sway too much for me—turns out that meant not at all.

I raked my fingers through my hair and began to pace the room. Lidia opened up the twenty-dollar dessert we ordered to-go and took a big bite. "Come get some before I eat it all," she said.

"I can't believe he expects me to get married in two months when we've only started dating."

She shrugged, twisting the fork in her mouth before moaning. "I mean … you expected this."

I nodded fiercely, stopping in front of the window, I sighed. "I did. Now I just—I don't know how to fix this." I ran my palms down my face when Lidia's small hands wrapped around my stomach from behind me.

I loved the feeling more than I ever thought I would. I braced my palms against the glass of the window and smiled when she rested her cheek against my back. "I have an idea," she whispered.

I lifted my arm and looked down at her. She lifted her eyes and let go so I could turn toward her. "Not to sound crass but you have money, Jace. This shouldn't come as a shock to you. You can forge a marriage certificate. We can pretend to elope, go down to the coast somewhere and then come back … dun dun dun, married!"

It … it wasn't the worst idea. I bit my bottom lip in thought. I was sure I could find someone that could forge a marriage certificate. I had buddies in college that made fake driver's licenses and passports. Why not a marriage certificate?

She tapped her chin. "The only thing is: a marriage certificate is open to the public. Someone … cough, cough, Seth … could go down to the courthouse and request it."

I watched her pretty face as she examined my reaction. "If we went to another state to get it, wouldn't they have to go there to request the license?"

"I think so," she said.

Smiling, I snaked my palm around the back of her neck and turned her chin upward. "You're smart, you know that?"

"I get that a lot," she smiled. " So, how about we finish that cake?"

***

When Friday night rolled around, Lidia stood in front of my wall-length mirror in a dress Gemma brought over an hour before. I couldn’t stop my eyes from traveling the length of it, and the way she allowed it to cling to her body.

Finally, a dress that showed me what I had imagined was underneath. Lidia twisted to the left and then to the right, gnawing on her lip. With her hair twisted into a bun on top of her neck, her neck was exposed from the lower cut of the dress.

"My, my, I can't imagine a man looking away from you tonight," I whispered into her ear. "You want to skip the party and stay here?"

Se chuckled. "Wouldn't that be defeating the purpose of our bargain, Mr. Archer? Are we not supposed to spend time together … in public?"

To be honest, I didn't think of our relationship as a bargain anymore. Was I going to pay her loans? Yes. Did I plan to take her around the city and show her off? Yes. But not because I had to, but because I wanted to.

I traced the curve of her jaw slowly, watching the way her lips parted at my touch.

"Are we still in a bargain, Miss Lambert? Because it all feels real to me."

A blush traveled up her neck, and I knew if I touched it that her skin would be hot. "Oh yeah?" she whispered, out of breath. "I guess my charm has finally won over my boss."

I thought back to the first time we met. Lidia Lambert was clumsy, irritating, and chatty. Everything that I never wanted and everything that I needed in my life.

Would she believe me if I told her?

Someone knocked on the door and drew our attention. I grabbed Lidia's clutch from the bed. "Come on, I got us a driver tonight. I wanted to spend time with you alone before this shindig."

She lifted a dark brow. "Shindig, huh? Looks like I'm wearing off on you, Kid."

I slapped her butt when she walked past me toward the door. The limo driver escorted us toward the backseat, and Lidia slid in first, running her fingers along the Italian leather. "Swanky," she said.

I grabbed a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket and popped the top, slowing rolling up the window that separated us from the driver. "To us," I said, taking a long ungentlemanly-like swallow.

Lidia clapped slowly. "Bravo, Son. My turn." She turned the bottle up toward the sky and I watched as her throat moved the liquid down.

Unable to stop myself, I snatched the bottle from her lips and replaced it with mine. The taste of the expensive champagne on her mouth did nothing compared to the taste of her tongue on mine.

Lidia yelped in surprise but softened when I laced my fingers against the back of her neck, steady enough not to ruin her hair. I could drown in her mouth, the soft moans and gentle tugs—everything about her kiss was perfect.

When the limo stopped, she pressed against my chest with her palms and stared at me with wild hazel eyes. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to that?"

I chuckled. "There is plenty more where that came from."

It didn't matter to me that Lidia wanted to save that intimate part of her until she was married, even though I longed to touch her, I respected her more than I cared about that. And I cared for her more than any of it.

Our driver opened the back door, and Lidia scurried out onto the pavement sidewalk and turned to look back at me. I wrapped her against my side, and we walked into the hotel party room.

***

The party was more laid back than a normal art exhibition, which was one of the reasons I wanted to take Lidia. Lidia grabbed a glass of champagne, and I watched her interact effortlessly with other gallery owners and respected businessman in the field.

"Jace Archer."

I heard her voice and my spine straightened, sending the hair on my arm upright. Could I ignore her? Doubtful. By the way her shadow fell over my shoulder, I knew she wasn't going anywhere.

I turned my head slightly, noticing the slit in her dress and how she angled her body toward me. Megan Kate was a regular at the gallery, and many more things that didn't mean anything to me anymore.

Her long dark hair was down past her shoulders, and her face painted perfectly for the evening. I refused to look down at what I knew was a low-cut dress, and into her light eyes.

Megan Kate was a gold-digger of the finest quality. It never bothered me before because I knew better than to buy into her time.

"Megan Kate," I said.

Her pearly whites stood out against a pair of dark-painted lips. She trailed me up and down like a solider that'd been away for years did the first woman he saw.

I could see the hesitation on her face, but she smirked. "I noticed you're engaged; it's been the talk of the town. Where is the lovely lady?"

Over my dead body …

"Jace," Lidia said from beside me. "They have an ice sculpture and it look likes he has a hard on—oh …" she trailed off.

The look of confusion traveled over Megan Kate's face briefly, before she hid it behind her smile. "You must be Jace's fiancé. Congratulations. I'm Megan Kate, my family owns this gallery."

Lidia noticed her vibe quickly. A lazy smile came across her face, and I felt the liquor she consumed on the ride over take charge. "Really?" Lidia asked. "You know the owner?"

Megan Kate's eyes turned to slits. Carefully, I wrapped my arm around Lidia's waist and pinched her side.

"Yes," she said. "I can see my friend needs me," she waved her hand toward the back archway. "See you around."

I waited until she left to turn to Lidia; she was smiling ear to ear. "One of your ex's?" she asked. "That girl was giving you the eyes."

"You need to be nice," I whispered.

She shrugged and gave me a who me look before taking another sip of her glass. My cell phone buzzed in my jacket pocket, and I opened my text.

It was from Adam, my police friend from high school. The car license plate that followed Lidia came back for a Mervin Heights. He sent a picture of an older man, short and dressed in a nice suite.

I showed it to Lidia. "Does this man look familiar to you?"

She squinted and bit her bottom lip. "Maybe, but he has a familiar face, ya know. It doesn't really ring a bell."

"Okay, well that's who was following you."

Her brows pinched. "That old man? Strange. I haven't seen him since, have you?"

I shook my head, my attention pulling to the dance floor. "Want to dance?” I asked.

She beamed. "Come on, Cowboy."

We danced until the party came to a stop. Lidia was drenched with sweat and swayed on her heels toward the exit. I scooped her up, noticing a few flashes on our way out. I didn't care who took my picture with Lidia anymore.

Or if they never did.

I felt free with her. For the first time in a long time.

***

Lidia woke me the next morning with a shriek that forced me to sit straight up in my bed. The sun hit my eyes like a blinding light, and I realized by its position that I'd slept way longer than usual.

She paced my room, hand intertwined into the top of her hair and a face of horrors. "Come back over here," I mumbled, patting her empty spot.

I'd gotten used to her sleeping with me even though nothing had come out of it yet.

"Jace!" she shrieked again. I peeked one eye open. "I'm serious!" Lidia walked over and handed me her phone. She'd opened her email from Rebecca and followed a link to the local newspaper.

Jace Archer and new fiancé Lidia Lambert partied hard last night.

On the front page of the paper was me holding Lidia in my arms, a clear shot up her dress and her lace panties on display.

My hand clutched the phone so hard that I thought I may break it. Lidia began to cry beside me, and my aggravation soared higher with each sob that broke from her lips.

I jerked the covers from my body and walked calmly over to my closet. I pulled on my only pair of jeans and an old T-shirt from college. Lidia wiped her nose. "What are you doing?"

I walked over, bent down and kissed her head. "I'll be back." Lidia didn't follow me to the door, and I was thankful for it. I felt angry. Angry that someone would do this to her and even angrier that the party was my idea.

The local college newspaper would pay for this. My eyes searched the credits for the photographer, and it read Michael Ferguson. I briefly thought it was Lidia's stalker, but it didn't match up.

I pulled up to the college campus twenty minutes later, hopped out and walked straight to where I knew the newspaper building sat. I'd been an editor for a short time during my freshman year before I started to focus on my business degree.

The long college hallways blurred from my rage, and I felt myself slipping into irrational anger the more I thought about Lidia's modesty.

I burst through the door at the end of the hallway. The students turned to me with wide eyes, and one yelped. The professor stood up carefully, pulling his eyeglasses off his nose as he did.

"Can we help you?" he asked.

"Michael Ferguson," I said in a voice that didn't sound like my own. To my surprise a slender guy in the front, wearing a football jersey turned to look at me. There was a smirk on his face that I needed to take care of.

I made my way down the aisle, seeing the fear register when he realized who I was, and he tried to make a dash toward the door. I grabbed her jersey, bunched it up into my fist and slammed his back against the wall.

The students began to scurry out of the classroom but all I could see was red. "Hold on now!" The professor said, but I couldn't focus on his words.

Michael began to stutter, and I pulled his jersey harder into my grasp. "You take this picture down now."

"What picture—"

I pulled him from the wall and shoved him into the tile floor. He scurried up and toward his professor that look just as scared. "You let your students take pictures like this?" I pointed toward the print that he had on his desk.

"Well no, we were taking it down. They published it without my consent—"

"That's my wife!" I screamed. I had no idea why I said that, because she wasn't my wife, but it felt like she was, or she was supposed to be. I closed my eyes and braced my fists against my forehead. "I'll sue this college for slander and defamation. I had that library built and I'll take it all away before you two can pick up your jaws. Take the picture down … now."

The professor braced his palms up in surrender. "We have now. Michael is being suspended—"

"Why?" I blurted unable to help my mouth today. "Why did you do this?"

He glanced down at the floor. "I—someone paid me."

His professor glanced at him like it was news to him. I stepped forward, feeling myself grow numb. "Who?"

He shrugged. "Some old guy gave me a grand to take the picture."

I pulled out the picture that my friend sent over of the guy following Lidia. "Does he look familiar?"

He squinted. "Yeah, that's him, but he had a girl with him. She wore a hat, and I couldn’t see her face. She never got out of the car. Mervin had a camera and nice alligator shoes."

I nodded and slipped my phone back into my pocket. "Take the picture down and I expect an apology in the paper, on the website and something written to my—Lidia for her humiliation. If not, you'll hear from my lawyer."

Something inside me flipped on edge as I left campus and drove back to my apartment. I hated myself for admitting it, but I …

I think I love Lidia.