Tears of the Queen: by Bethany Drake

Author:Bethany Drake [Drake, Bethany]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eclipse Press
Published: 2018-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Two nights later Alicia stood in front of a full-length mirror. The simple black dress she wore should work well for the art showing. Her jewelry collection was limited but she still had the jewels Max lent her. She pulled out the velvet box from her underwear drawer and snapped opened the lid.

The necklace sat on the deep blue bed of velvet. “Damn, that’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

She held it up against her neckline. The gold felt cold against her skin. “Too much.” Putting the necklace back in the box she slipped it into her purse. Time to give it back to Max anyway. Her simulated pearls would have to do.

A knock on the door forced her to snag her pearl necklace and earrings and plop them into her purse as well. “Coming.”

She opened the door. Max stood there in black slacks, blazer and button down shirt. His tie was the only bit of color, a metal grey with flecks of red. He made her heart beat a little harder.

“Wow. Love the look.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” He held the door for her. “I’m noticing a lack of jewelry again.”

“I have it, just haven’t been able to get it on yet.” She opened her purse. “Oh, this is yours.”

She dragged the velvet box out of her purse and groaned as her earrings popped out with it. They bounced onto the floor several times before skidding under a neighbor’s door. After several knocks she knew they weren’t home. “Okay, so I’ll have to do without earrings for tonight.”

“I have taken the liberty…” Max took the velvet box and slid it into a pocket of his blazer.

“Not again.” She didn’t want him to continue to give her gifts like this. It didn’t bode well. Alicia touched his arm. “Max, I feel like I’m living some sort of old romance novel where the hero keeps giving the heroine jewels.”

She went into her apartment and wrote a quick note to leave for her neighbor. She slapped the self-adhesive note on their door and nodded. Thank goodness they were used to her by now.

“I promise I won’t sweep you off your feet and have my way with you, unless of course that’s what you want.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her as they continued down the stairs. “The jewelry belonged to my mom and no one is wearing it. Just take a look at what I brought. If you don’t want to wear it you don’t have to.”

She walked down the stairs to the bottom floor where Max opened the door to the street. Her heels tapped against the concrete as they approached the SUV. “I guess. Just don’t get used to this, okay?”

“Promise.” He opened the door to the Hummer and started to help her up into the truck. His pulse picked up speed when he wrapped his hands around her waist. He didn’t need to go to the show tonight. He could think of other things he would rather do with Alicia than spend several hours in a stuffy gallery.

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