Love Of Lust

Chapter Six

Becky's POV
It became normal for me and Riad to eat lunch together at work.

It reached the point where he no longer had to call me; I'd habitually get up and walk to his office every day at eleven-thirty, and a subtly scowling Alice would take our orders.

He must have eaten at every place in a ten-mile radius. He always had recommendations, and they were always good. Before long, he would greet me with a kiss on the cheek, right in front of Alice.

I could practically feel her trying to strangle me with her mind. Oddly enough, all I felt was triumph.

"You know," I said to him one day, over a plate of prime ribs with a side of mac and cheese, "all the women in the office absolutely hate me now."

He looked up. "And some of the men."

He just laughed.

"Well, that's not very charitable of them."

"I can't wait for the reactions once we get…engaged." I still had a hard time spitting the word out. "I'm going to need a police escort just to get to the copy machine."

"Eye daggers aren't actually deadly, you know." He tore a piece of bread stick and dipped it into a little pool of hummus. "No matter how sharp."

"I guess."

"Are you going to tell your parents?" There it was. I'd kept pushing that question to the back of my mind, but I was going to have to confront it eventually.

"I'm not sure," I admitted, pushing some lettuce around on my plate. "We haven't really talked in a while. If I just call them out of the blue, and tell them I'm engaged…"

"They'll find out eventually, won't they? One way or another. Isn't it best that they hear it from you directly?" He was right.

The contract did stipulate that I had to change my relationship status on any social networking sites - which was only reasonable - and I was online "friends" with quite a few people who knew my parents. There was no chance I'd be able to skate by on that one.

Truth was, I'd kept most of my relationships secret from my parents. They were so probing and critical of most things I did, and I never wanted to go through all the hassle of trying to introduce them to someone, only to turn around later and inform them that we'd broken up.

"But why? What happened? What did you do? Did you say something that scared him off? Maybe if you lost a few pounds…I mean, you're an attractive girl, but competition is fierce out there…" I shuddered a little.

The idea of telling them I was going to marry a billionaire only to tell them in a year that we were getting divorced…it was horrifying. But I had no choice, if I wanted to through with this. Surely two million dollars was worth enduring a few awkward phone calls. We ate the rest of our lunch in silence that day.

Riad was aware he'd touched on a nerve, and he didn't bring the subject up again. Late Friday afternoon, he came by my cubicle just as I was packing up my things. Thankfully, Jessica had already cut out for the day.

"I'd like to take you to dinner tonight," he said, and there was something very meaningful in his eyes.

Oh, God. This was it, wasn't it? He was going to propose to me. In public, I was sure. He had to make a spectacle of it.

"Okay," I said, my heart already fluttering in my chest.

"Be ready at seven o'clock."

The midnight blue dress was still in its plastic bag from the cleaner's, hanging in the back of my closet. I hadn't expected to need it again so soon.