Being Mrs. Kane

Chapter 12

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.
–Thomas Jefferson

Who died and made you Cinderella? Said a small vicious voice in my head. That did the trick of bringing my head out of the clouds because it has been stuck there for the past three hours.

Time seemed to fly as I changed sheets and flowers from vases while I daydreamed about how things would be if I actually married Dorian and it was pretty unrealistic.

Now that Pete's welcome party was over, the mess to clean was more than usual but thankfully everybody volunteered to do some clean up including Dorian– to my surprise. I avoided him throughout the night after his smug comment about how I looked good on the front pages. He seemed to like the attention and it looked rather suspicious for someone who was so keen on not being photographed that night.

"Pete, I'm off, take care and please do not ever scare me again," I said to my buddy as I picked up my bag prepared to leave and Pete just gave his signature bellyful laughter.

I searched for Molly with my eyes and I sighted her speaking to Dorian. Her eyes found me and she walked over.

"Dakota, thank you so much for today," she said as she pulled me in for a hug.

"You know Pete means a lot to me," I said and she just Patted my back in response.

"Anyways, you, me and a cup of chocolate tomorrow," She said as she releases me.

Oh, I know what that means. That means she would be trying to pry out answers about me and Dorian, and Molly always gets what she wants. I would think of something to tell her later because it would be impossible to avoid the conversation as long as I worked here.

I walked out of the homey Victorian styled building making it a point to pass through the rose garden because I didn't get to walk anyone through it tonight.

"You are going to leave without saying goodbye." I heard someone call out and I turned to face Dorian wearing a lopsided grin. His stupid grin just had a way of getting to me.

I just shrugged. "I thought you were busy." I gave my lame excuse and Dorian's face morphed into a playful pout and my face cracked into what I'm sure was a silly schoolgirl grin. Who was this and what has he done to smoldering CEO Dorian?

"It's beautiful," He said looking around the garden as he approached me.

"Yeah," I said almost quietly. It was definitely a treasure and a place of escape. I always looked forward to walking through the garden because of its tranquility and the comfort I derived from it.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I take you were upset?" He asked and for a split second I saw a moment of vulnerability but it vanished almost immediately but that didn't stop it from tugging at my heart.

"It felt rather insensitive to me, I was still in shock." I managed to say. I really wasn't expecting him to apologize.

"I understand, let me guess you saw it on the front pages at a magazine stand?" He asked with a smirk. I shook my head in laughter.

"Worse, today someone at a store actually thought we were getting married."

"You obviously said yes, right?" He said. The look on my face probably alarmed him. "I'm kidding." He quickly said and I wondered if he was even bothered at all.

"Dakota, it's okay, I was only kidding, I forget that all this is still new to you. You sort of remind me of the first time I made the tabloids," He said with a wistful smile.