So Linneah, I needed you to marry Chris so I have easy access to him when I need to blow off a little sexual steam.”
You bitch.
Do not say that aloud! I warned myself.
But Linneah beat me to the punch.
“Bitch! You can’t sleep with my husband!” she screeched.
“I can if I helped you land him. Besides,” Addison bragged, “Chris isn’t going to be able to stay away from me no matter who he’s married to. He said I was hands down the best sex he’d ever had. And he’s been with a number of women. He said I’m the only one that could really give him a good workout.”
I started to feel sick.
“When I made him come,” Addison bragged, “his eyes would roll back in his head. One time he even passed out.”
My brain spun, trying to remember if Chris’s eyes had ever rolled back in his head with me. He had definitely never passed out.
Addison smirked at me. “So you see, I don’t consider you competition in the slightest. Chris is probably just pity fucking you. He’ll get bored—he always does—then he’ll come running back to me.” She laughed at me. “I mean, look at you! There’s no way you’d be interesting at all in bed.”
“He enjoys being with me,” I said hotly.
“Oh really?” Addison sneered.
“Yeah, I have him wrapped around my finger,” I insisted, though the reality was more like Chris had me wrapped around his.
“He can’t keep his hands off me. So stop wasting your time, Linneah. You’re not going to have him. I am.”
At least until my divorce. But Linneah didn’t know of the surprise reveal at the end of the show, that the marriage certificates were actually fake, and I didn’t need any more threats of lawsuits in my life, especially not from Dana for ruining her big production.
“So the bridal portraits—”
“Done?” Chris snarled from the doorway.
I jumped.
“Oh, well, we…”
“It’s not a question,” Chris spat. He had changed into a perfectly tailored suit and was looming dangerously in the doorway. “Don’t forget your coats and bags on the way out.”
“We’ll schedule another meeting,” I said to Addison, starting to kick myself for going off on her. Ivy would kill me if we were fired from this wedding.
“It was so nice to see both of you, and we’ll talk some more about your wedding soon. You’re going to be an amazing bride, Addison!” I said, really laying it on. “I’ve seen the dress designs, and they will look stunning on you. I can’t wait! It’s going to be a dream wedding.”
“It is, isn’t it!” Addison preened, basking in the praise.
She air-kissed me. “We’ll talk, darling.”
Chris slammed the door behind them. Then he turned on me.
“Do not,” he said, voice dangerously low, “bring them here ever again.”
“I didn’t,” I babbled. “They just showed up.”
“I don’t care,” Chris said in a clipped tone. “They are not allowed in my house. Ever.” Then he turned on his heel and went back to his study.
I jumped when the door slammed.
Shit.
Had I fucked up?
44
Chris
I think I fucked up. I paced around my study listening for Grace. Was she furious at me? I had interfered with her business. If someone had done that to me, I would have been incensed. Shit, in fact, when Addison and I had been together, she would periodically interrupt me when I was working or in a meeting, just to prove she had the upper hand. I had been livid. Yet here I was.
Hypocrite.
It was just that having Addison in my house dredged up old feelings and hurts that I thought I had long buried.
Don’t let her worm her way into your head.
But she was already there, feeding my paranoia.
But you aren’t paranoid, I reminded myself. You heard Grace.
She had said, clear as day, that I was all hers.
But isn’t that what you want?
I poured myself a scotch to calm my nerves. I did want her. I did want her to think of me as all hers.
“She didn’t mean it in a gold-digger way,” I assured myself, trying to calm down the desire to storm through the house and yell at her until she told me the truth.
Grace wasn’t like Addison. Grace worked for one thing, not just at a job but at a company she helped build.
Chris: Do you think Grace is trying to trap me for my money?
Eric: I think all women are trying to trap all men.
Josh: Eric just had a bad breakup. Don’t listen to him.