The Blackmail Bride

Chapter 26 Part 1

I always get that bad feeling where I cannot really write a love story.

Present

There was bright anticipation from the women as the door swung open. Like them, I waited with bated breath... for an entirely different reason.

I knew what I looked like, and with the professionals who handled my image for tonight's event, there should be no reason to doubt myself now. What was this feeling?

My suddenly clammy hands fisted at my sides as I managed my expression.

Why did it matter what he thought?

In my peripheral, Kayla was elbowing Shane surreptitiously, "That's him."

The first thing that came into my vision were his leather shoes, the black slacks... and more than six feet of male had stepped into the room. My eyes went to his face. Jace Black already had that stare fixed on me. Gunmetal eyes that were a few shades darker than the dress I wore. It was quiet, even the air strangely still.

And those eyes broke contact with mine, slowly sliding down my throat, speeding the beating of my heart and twisting my stomach. The gaze slid down to my waist, to my jelly-legs to the toes of my expensive footwear. Before abruptly coming back to my face and almost as quickly, looking away.

His jaw tightened, an inexplicable expression on his chiseled face.

"Mariz," Jace said, "What the hell is she wearing? We had an agreement!"

A moment of confusion for the glam team who were expecting a different reaction.

Jace Black looked ticked off. His bronze hair was windblown-looking and there were wrinkles in his dress shirt. There were two hours left before the party and it seemed like he'd only arrived.

And went straight to my suite.

Mariz had stepped to my side, placing a hand low on my back. A smile brightly lit her face as she pretended to look me over, "She's fully covered, isn't she?"

Jace's eyes took a double take at my dress, only to explode. "Does that matter? It looks like you cut out pieces of shiny material and haphazardly glued it to her body!"

This was the reaction they were so excited for.

Way to make everyone feel like garbage. The glam team all pretended interest in the marble flooring. The designer was left speechless as if Jace had slapped her.

"So I take it, you don't like the gown?"

All eyes snapped in my direction.

My words might've as well been an open door to a blizzard. What with how frosty I sounded.

Jace's full attention came back to me, "That's not what I said."

I tilted my head to the side, "I like it. Don't I get a say about what I wear?"

I was ticked off.

I liked the gown. I liked these people and they were insulted with careless words just like that. Jace gave me a hard time about the red ball gown during the fitting. All that speech about how I could not decide on my own but he went behind my back to make alterations to the gown that I wear?

Something with the way he looked straight into my eyes told me we were thinking of the same thing.

"Jace," I spoke his name slowly, "If you don't like what I'm wearing—"

"I didn't say I didn't like it."

"Then why are you giving her a hard time over—?"

"I like it," Jace growled at me. "Don't you think that's the problem?"