Chapter 129: Changed Bet

Oliver looked up from behind her. "What?"

Naomi blinked and turned toward him. "Hmmm?"

"I thought you said something."

"No... no." She gave a small, awkward laugh. "Uh... no."

Daniel suddenly shouted from across the room. "Guys are here!" he jumped over one of the sofas, landed with a small grunt.

Everyone looked at him then laughed commenting that he sometimes forgot he was getting old.

He headed downstairs to let the others in.

Dorian threw both hands into the air. "This is madness." He started walking toward her, looking around his entertainment floor. "Did you make enough food?"

Naomi barely heard him. Her mind had already gone somewhere else. She was looking around the room again, but this time, her imagination had begun filling in the spaces.

More children.

Their children.

Dorian finally reached her. "Naomi?"

She kept staring somewhere past him.

"Naomi." Dorian snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Uhn?"

He frowned slightly. "How did this get out of hand?"

"I don’t know." She gave him a guilty little smile. "I’m sorry."

"No. I should be apologizing to you. You’ve been up since early this morning. When you said food tasting, I thought just Ginny and Mum."

Naomi glanced around again. "I... I don’t mind."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I like them here."

"I thought you liked me alone."

Naomi smiled. "I like you alone too." She stepped closer and caught the front of his T-shirt in her fist, then pulled him toward her.

Their bodies met. The noise around them suddenly seemed farther away.

Naomi tilted her face up toward him, her smile becoming much more suggestive. "I like you alone a lot."

"See! See! No one believes me!" Ginny pointed at both of them victoriously.

Naomi immediately tried to step away from Dorian, but he caught her around the waist before she made it very far and pulled her firmly against his side.

Across the room, Maurice glanced up from the plate in his hand and studied them for all of two seconds.

"I’m changing my bet."

Then he calmly went back to eating.

Ginny’s head whipped around. "What?! You said you weren’t going to change it! You cannot change bets!" she argued.

Before anyone could drag Dorian into that particular nonsense, voices sounded from downstairs.

Daniel’s friends had arrived.

After that, the entire place spiraled. More food disappeared. More drinks appeared. The children became louder, the adults somehow became worse, and Dorian eventually gave up.

By the time everyone finally left, the townhouse looked like the aftermath of an invasion.

Naomi escaped to the rooftop. She sprawled across one of the chaise lounges, closed her eyes and let the cool air wash over her. She was exhausted.

But underneath the tiredness was a strange satisfaction that made her smile. Who said family gatherings were tedious affairs?

"You alright?" Dorian’s voice came from above her.

Naomi opened her eyes.

He stood beside the chaise, looking down at her.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Just tired."

Dorian nodded. "You got anything left in the tank? I need to talk to you."

Something in his tone made Naomi sit up.

"Yeah, of course." She straightened, immediately giving him her full attention.

"It’s about tomorrow."

Naomi groaned softly. "Don’t worry. I do not plan to embarrass you. I’m going to keep my mouth shut all through. I have my outfit. It cost an arm and a leg, but it’s your money, so..."

"It’s not that."

"What is it?"

Dorian looked away for a moment. "I..." He paused, rubbed his palms together once before looking back at her. "Lillian..."

She knew that name.

Dorian had told her enough about his first marriage for Naomi to know Lillian wasn’t simply another ex-wife.

She was the ex-wife.

The one who had mattered. The one he had actually loved before everything went spectacularly wrong.

"My first wife," Dorian continued, unnecessarily. "She is going to be there."

"At Blackstone?"

He nodded. "She is a co-speaker."

"So, your first, third and fourth wife are all going to be at the same event?" Naomi asked.

Dorian cleared his throat. "Yeah?"

Naomi stared at him for a second.

Then she started laughing.

A full, delighted laugh that made Dorian’s expression flatten almost immediately.

"Oh my God!" Naomi pressed a hand to her chest. "This is delicious. You player!"

Dorian looked offended. "Okay, I am trying to have a serious conversation here, and you’re making it fucking hard."

"I’m sorry." Naomi tried to straighten her face, failed and laughed again. "It’s just soap-opera worthy. Come on, you think so too, don’t you?"

"No." He said it with such absolute seriousness that it only made things worse.

Naomi turned her face away, shoulders shaking.

Dorian folded his arms. "You done?"

"I’m stopping." Naomi inhaled and pressed her lips together. "I’ll stop. I’ll stop laughing."

Another small chuckle escaped.

Naomi raised both hands. "Okay. That’s the last one. Go on."

He waited another second to make sure she was actually finished. "It has been brought to my attention in the past that I tend to misbehave when she is around me."

Naomi’s amusement faded slightly. "Misbehave?"

"Especially when she is with my uncle."

Naomi got to her feet. "Misbehave how?"

"I..." He looked away for a moment. "I don’t know. It was just something Margot used to accuse me of."

"Is this because you still love her?"

"No. No... God, no. That is not what this is."

"Are you sure?" He looked directly at her.

Naomi searched his face, trying to decide whether he was reassuring her or himself.

Dorian stepped closer. He could have told her the truth.

The full truth. That whatever he had once felt for Lillian belonged to another version of him. That the woman taking up his thoughts now was standing directly in front of him.

But a declaration would probably have her rappelling down the side of the townhouse. So Dorian chose his words carefully.

Carefully enough that she could hear them without running.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I believe I am ready to love someone else..."