The CEO's Contractual Wife - Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Olivia
Claire reached over and squeezed my hand.
"Liv, nobody's saying you should rush into anything," she said gently. "But what happens when you're both in the moment and can't keep your hands off each other? Have you thought about that?"
I hadn't. Well, I had, but not in ways I wanted to admit to my friends.
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," I mumbled.
"That bridge might be a lot closer than you think," Ariana said with a knowing smile. "Chemistry like that doesn't stay bottled up forever."
I took another sip of wine, avoiding their eyes. The truth was, I'd already had several moments with Alexander where my resolve had nearly crumbled. His scent, his touch, the way his voice dropped when we were alone...
"Can we please talk about something else?" I pleaded. "Anything else?"
"Fine," Emilia conceded. "But just remember, Ryan the Rat doesn't deserve another second of your mental energy. That bastard lost all rights to influence your future when he decided to screw Sophia at her own party."
"On her dresser," Claire added with disgust.
"While you were downstairs waiting for drinks," Ariana finished.
I winced at the memory. "Thanks for the reminder."
"We're just saying," Emilia continued, "don't let what that jerk did hold you back from something potentially amazing."
"Or someone potentially amazing," Claire added with a wink.
"Alexander Carter is my boss," I reminded them, conveniently leaving out the small detail about our contractual arrangement.
"Who you're dating," Ariana pointed out. "Which makes the whole situation ten times hotter."
I felt my cheeks flush. "You guys are impossible."
"We're your friends," Emilia corrected. "And we want you to be happy."
"And get laid," Claire added cheerfully.
"Claire!" I spluttered, nearly choking on my wine.
"What? It's been what, almost a few weeks since you caught Ryan? That's practically a lifetime."
"Some of us don't measure our happiness by our sex lives," I muttered.
"Fair enough," Ariana conceded. "But happiness and good sex aren't mutually exclusive."
The waitress appeared with another round of drinks, saving me from having to respond. I gratefully accepted my fresh glass of wine.
"To new beginnings," Emilia raised her glass. "And leaving cheating exes in the dust where they belong."
We clinked glasses, and I felt a wave of affection for these women. Despite their relentless teasing, they had my back.
"So," Claire said after taking a sip, "if we can't talk about Alexander, what should we discuss? My boring promotion?"
"It's not boring!" I protested, grateful for the subject change. "It's amazing. Tell us everything."
Claire launched into details about her new role, and I relaxed into my seat, letting the conversation flow around me. For a blessed twenty minutes, no one mentioned Alexander or Ryan.
Until Emilia's phone buzzed.
"Oh my god," she gasped, staring at the screen.
"What?" we all asked in unison.
She turned her phone around, showing us a social media post. There I was, in the red dress from Alexander's collection, looking up at him as we exited some restaurant. His hand rested possessively on my lower back, and the caption read: "Alexander Carter and mystery woman heat up LA nights."
"When was this taken?" Ariana asked, squinting at the photo.
"Last week," I sighed. "We had dinner at Spago."
"You had dinner at Spago and didn't tell us?" Claire looked wounded.
"It wasn't a big deal."
"Not a big deal?" Emilia scoffed. "Liv, you're dating one of the most powerful men in Los Angeles. Everything you do together is a big deal."
"We're taking things slow," I insisted.
"That's not what his eyes are saying in this picture," Ariana observed, zooming in. "He looks like he wants to eat you alive."
I snatched the phone away. "Can we please stop analyzing my love life?"
"Fine," Emilia sighed dramatically. "But only because I love you."
"Thank you."
"And because I know you'll tell us everything eventually."
I rolled my eyes. "You're incorrigible."
"I prefer 'persistent,'" she grinned. "Now, who needs another drink?"
Three hands shot up, including mine. As Emilia flagged down our waitress, I felt my phone buzz in my purse. Probably Alexander, checking in as he often did during my nights out. I ignored it.
"So," Claire said, leaning forward conspiratorially, "now that we've agreed not to talk about your steamy CEO situation, can we at least discuss what happened with Ryan? Has he tried to contact you?"
I grimaced. "Daily. Texts, calls, emails. He even sent flowers to my apartment."
"What a dick," Ariana muttered.
"What did you do with the flowers?" Claire asked.
"Donated them to the nursing home down the street," I shrugged. "Seemed like a waste to throw them out."
"Should have sent them back to Sophia with a thank-you note for revealing his true colors," Emilia suggested.
I laughed despite myself. "That would have been petty."
"Sometimes petty feels good," she winked.
"I don't need petty," I said, surprising myself with how much I meant it. "I'm moving on."
"To bigger and better things," Ariana added with a smirk.
"To my life," I corrected. "With or without a man in it."
"That's my girl," Emilia raised her glass again. "Forget Ryan. Focus on you."
"And Alexander," Claire couldn't help adding.
"You just can't help yourself, can you?" I laughed.
"Nope," she grinned unapologetically. "But seriously, Liv, we're happy for you. Whatever this thing with Alexander is, you deserve something good after what happened."
"Even if it's just really great sex," Ariana added.
"Especially if it's really great sex," Emilia agreed.
I shook my head but couldn't suppress my smile. "You guys are the worst."
"You love us," Claire said confidently.
"God help me, I do."
We fell into a comfortable conversation about Claire's promotion, Ariana's disaster date last weekend, and Emilia's latest work drama. For a while, I could almost forget about the contract sitting in my desk drawer at home, the one that outlined exactly what my relationship with Alexander entailed—and what it didn't.
Almost.