Page 52 of You, Me, and Forever

“It absolutely means that. How is building a hotel in some hokey little town with ignorant, uneducated fools and a population of a hundred doing good work?”

No. He. Didn’t.

I was fine biting my lip most of the time. But this was not one of those times.

Sophia hissed at her husband just as the words left my mouth.

“Obviously you’ve never been to Blushing, because we have a population of nine thousand two hundred and seventy-seven people who live there. The majority of the kids who have grown up there do go away for college, but they return because they love the people and the beauty that surrounds us. I’ve never had anyone refer to the people that live there as ‘ignorant’ or ‘uneducated,’ so I’m not quite sure where you’re doing your research, but you might want to do some fact-checking before you make a statement like that.”

Samuel laughed, and Myles stepped closer to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, almost as if he was attempting to shield me.

But I didn’t need shielding from this small-minded asshole.

His words didn’t hurt me. They angered me.

And my chest squeezed at the thought of Myles growing up with this man.

“Are you fucking drunk?” Myles snarled. “How dare you insult my date. Pull your shit together, Dad. People are watching.”

“Your date? Well, buckle up, Myles, because Gigi Wellington is making her way over here, and I think she thought she’d be your date this evening.”

“Why the fuck is Gigi here?” Myles spewed, glancing over his shoulder and making no effort to hide his irritation.

“I just found out that your father invited her a few minutes ago,” Sophia said, giving her son an apologetic look.

“I can run interference with Gigi,” Samuel said, clapping Myles on the shoulder. “She’s a gold-digging narcissist, so you definitely owe me one.”

Myles didn’t take his eyes from his father. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yes. We’ve established that many times.” He smirked. “Ahhh ... here she is. Gigi, so nice of you to join us tonight.”

I turned to see a tall blond woman wearing a red body-hugging dress with cutouts everywhere I looked. There was very little left to the imagination, but she had a rocking body, and she owned it. Her breasts were barely contained, and she moved toward Myles as his arm left my shoulder and he gave her a quick hug.

“I was hoping you’d be here,” she purred, and I just stared at her, waiting to be acknowledged, as he placed his arm around my waist and tugged me close.

“I was not expecting to see you here, Gigi.”

“Well, your father called this morning, and he said you’d be here and that he was certain you’d want to see me.”

I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but it was definitely awkward.

I had no claim over Myles St. James, but this woman was coming on strong, and it was pissing me off that she wouldn’t acknowledge me as I stood beside him.

“Gigi Wellington, this is Montana Kingsley,” Myles said, taking my hand in his and smiling at me.

I extended my free hand, and she sneered at me. “Montana? That’s your name? Someone actually put that on a birth certificate?”

Montana was actually not an uncommon name. Her name was less common than mine.

Glass houses, Gigi.

“Yes. Someone did put it on my birth certificate. My mother actually chose it before she ran off and abandoned me to be with her new family.” I tilted my head to the side and chuckled. “But I’m okay, because I’ve got the hottest date in the room on my arm. Don’t you agree, Gigi?”

A wide grin spread across Samuel’s face, and Winston and Gigi both gaped at me. Sophia just smiled as if we were discussing the weather.

But it was Myles who caught me by surprise. He was looking down at me with so much adoration it nearly took my breath away.

“I don’t know about that, Honey Badger. I’m certain that I have the hottest date in the room.”

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