Just Between Us

Chapter Seventeen

Elizabeth's POV

"Was it mandatory to come have lunch with them?" Divya questioned as we approached our table at the restaurant.

"We wouldn't be here if I had a choice, my dad wants Merc to invest in his luxury ocean cruiser line. So I'm obliged to lick his arse for the time being." I looked at Divya and smiled at her. "We'll leave as soon as we can, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, this is part of our deal." Divya shot a smile at the people sat at the table of people who's attention was now on us.

"Elizabeth!" Harold Merc exclaimed—he stood from his chair to greet me, barely acknowledging Divya at my side. I had to swallow my annoyance and went to sit on the table. "It is so good you finally arrive."

"Sorry I'm late, traffic was not on my side." I responded as I took a chair out for Divya to sit and then one for myself. Locking eyes with Alice as soon as I sat.

Shit.

She sat across from me with a coy smile on her face, a glass of white wine on her hand and a distracted boyfriend sat on her left. I looked away and turned my attention to the host.

"Don't worry yourself about it, we merely ordered something to drink." Merc said sitting back down on his seat.

"We wouldn't dare start without you Elizabeth." Hugh shot me a wink that almost made me recoil in disgust.

I ignored his comment and passed a menu to Divya and kept one for myself. "Order whatever you want love." I whispered in her ear.

Divya gave me a side eyes with a smirk on her face before responding. "What I want is not on the menu."

I pursed my lips and looked down to the menu—trying to not make it obvious that what Divya had just said didn't get me hot flustered in the middle of the business lunch. It also reminded me of the first time we went out to eat with Kaden and Jessie, she had told me the same thing that day.

I cleared my throat and told my order to the waiter that had just approached the table after he was done asking Mer, Divya being the last one to pick what she wanted.

"So Elizabeth. Your old man has been very enthusiastically talking to me about an ocean cruiser line he's trying to finalize to get up and running." Harold Merc looked around the table. "Since when does he even like boats? I've known your father for years and as far as I'm concerned he's a man of the skies." He laughed at his own comment.

"Well as you stated in the back cover of your autobiography Harold, why settle?" I hate to bootlick, but this is important, not for me but for my dad.

"Finally someone with fine interests in the business world, that's how I know you are serious about it. What better way to learn about our lifestyle than through my eyes and words?" He said with excitement.

Narcissist much?

He began to ramble on and on about his autobiography and how he had his writer and editor living in his house for the ten months he spent on writing it. Which sounded ridiculous, but accurate for a man like him to do so.

"Thank you." I told the waiter as he put my plate of fillet mignon in front of me.

"So Divya, tell me how's dress hunting? Is Liz going with you to them? Assuming she'll wear one as well, she's always been so fluent on her dressing code." Alice spoke to us for the first time since we've arrived, I paused eating for a moment and instead took a sip from my glass of wine as I looked at Divya.

Goddamn Alice and her specific questions, the only relieving part was that Divya always seemed to be prepared for any of it.

Divya finished swallowing her food before she answered, "We haven't properly started yet, we are taking our time I don't feel like we are in a rush."