Last Name - Dr. Rebecca Sharp Page 0,50

looked over to see Suzanne slide through my door with a bright smile on her face.

“Hey, Suz.”

“I was just here going over a few things with the menu, and I thought I’d stop in to see if you wanted a ride over to the house?”

I smiled knowingly at her. “James asked you to check, didn’t he?”

There was a catered dinner happening at Lars and Suzanne’s tonight now that more of the guests had arrived.

“Well, he might’ve mentioned you wouldn’t want to leave the hotel with him.”

I tugged my lower lip between my teeth, but that didn’t stop my small smile.

Aside from the asshole Frenchman who’d deliciously broken my rules, James had been James about my request to keep our new relationship as far out of the office as possible.

Oh, and aside from the coffee. And the presents.

I swallowed a groan. It was hard to stick to my rules—rules that were ridiculous to have in the first place—when he made it feel so natural.

“I was going to go home and change first,” I told her. “What’s the dress code again?”

I knew I was searching for an excuse.

This was the first event that I wasn’t attending on any professional level. Tonight, I was going to be there with James. As his date. His girlfriend. His secret wife.

The thought thrilled as much as it frightened me.

“The dress code is what I picked out for you this afternoon!” she beamed.

“What?”

“Well, we were out shopping today, and I saw this sundress, and I just thought the blue would be just perfect with your sunshine hair…” She trailed off when I gaped at her. “If you don’t want it, it’s totally fine. I can return it. It’s not—”

“No.” I realized how ungrateful my surprise had sounded. “Sorry. I just… I haven’t had any good friends since I moved out here. Between work and getting settled. You just surprised me, that’s all.”

Her relief was a warm breeze through the room. “Oh, good.”

“Let me just pack up my things and I’ll be ready.”

“What’s on your mind?”

I blinked and faced Suzanne, realizing we’d been in the car for a few minutes and I hadn’t said a word.

Heat flushed into my cheeks. “Sorry. Just a lot going on with—”

“James?”

I gulped. I was going to say work—and it would’ve been a lie.

“Well… yeah.”

“It looks like a lot of good to me,” she offered.

Talking with Suz was like chatting with truth serum. I couldn’t stop myself from confessing to her all the worries I’d been holding inside.

“It seems like a lot real fast. We haven’t known each other for that long. And when we met, it was only supposed to be this fling… but now, we’re already…” Married. “So serious.”

“And?” She blinked.

“And…” I sighed. “I was in a long-term relationship before, and it didn’t end well. I just don’t want to move too fast and make a wrong move.”

“And how long were you with your ex?”

“A year before we were engaged and then another year before I broke it off and moved out here.” My brow scrunched, making sure I got my numbers right.

“So, you were with someone for a long time before it got serious and then turned sour, and now, you’re afraid you haven’t been with James long enough?”

I shot her a sideways glance. I saw what she was getting at.

How long I’d known a person was no indication whether or not they were the right one for me.

“But they say—”

“Oh psh!” She waved me off. “Love is like having a baby. Everyone and their mother will tell you what the right way is, but the only right way is the one that follows your heart.”

“Right,” I grumbled, not completely won over. “But what about James? He owns Arden Corporation. He’s drop-dead gorgeous, meanwhile, I’ve got a few pounds to spare. And, on top of that, I work for him, doing a job he was about to fire me for.”

“What!” she exclaimed and broke off laughing. “He was going to fire you?”

Crap.

“Well, sort of. But then he needed my help.” And wasn’t sure he was legally allowed to get rid of me.

“Care, I’m going to tell you something, but I’ll warn you right now, you already know it,” she prefaced as we turned onto the drive. “James is a smart guy. School. The business. I’m sure there are things we don’t even know about that he’s done in order to make it out on top… in order to save everything when his father died.”

I sat in silence because she was