CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

DAMIEN

Tamara had stopped talking to me after our argument a few days ago; she had not always been chatty with me before, but in this case she only talked to me when absolutely necessary, which I found quite annoying; she was acting like a child.
Okay, I admit it was stupid and slightly immature of me to lie about having her followed instead of telling her Emilia was the one responsible, but I was so irate at the time that she went out to dinner with that boy that I chose to distort the truth in order to aggravate her.
My actions could be interpreted as jealousy, but I assure you that I am not jealous; I just don't want her to sabotage my carefully planned plan by hanging out with that boy. What exactly does she see in him? I'm one of New York's most eligible bachelors, so she should be grateful I chose her.
And now, because of my constant thoughts of Tamara and the mountains of work I had to do, I had almost forgotten about one of the main reasons I came to Paris: the annual anniversary dinner held in the Paris branch every year to boost client sales. I was expected to attend as the owner, and since I'm married to Tamara, I'm obligated to take her as well, but I doubt she'd want to go anywhere with me.
So, after weighing the benefits and drawbacks of not going, I decided we had no choice because we needed to maintain our happily married facade in order to avoid making people suspicious because we got married under questionable circumstances.
I then left my room to find Tamara. I found her in the living room, reading Wuthering Heights. She was dressed in black slacks and a blue tank top. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was so engrossed in her book that she didn't notice when I walked in.
"Hello Tamara," I said, but received no response. "Tamara," I called out again, slightly raising my voice in an attempt to get her attention; she immediately looked up at me; I swear I saw slight irritation in her eyes, but it was gone before I knew it, and her expression became neutral.
"Yes, Mr Kingston, you called?" she replied, placing her book on the table beside her.
"The hotel is having an anniversary dinner tonight," I explained, and she just stared at me, her face expressionless.
"Okay, what time is it?" she inquired, "9:00pm."
"OK, I'll be ready by then," she said simply before picking up her book and returning to her reading. She didn't even look at me after that; she was an irritable woman, and I'm beginning to regret choosing her over her sister Katherine. I can control Katherine with money at least, but Tamara is a different story.
She then looked up at me while I was thinking and asked, "Anything else?"
"No, continue with what you were doing," I replied before returning to my room to finish some work.
Sometime in the evening…..
I was already dressed in a black suit, a blue tie, and a pair of black dress shoes when Tamara walked out of her room at 8:30, she was dressed in a navy blue off-shoulder gown that hugged her curves in the right places, to be honest, I was taken aback by her outfit. She looked great, exceeding my expectations, which were low due to the way she dressed to see my family. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and a silver necklace with a simple pendant hung around her neck. Even though she was dressed modestly, she looked stunning.
Are you ready? Tamara asked, turning to face me so I could see her face better. Her makeup was subtle but lovely, highlighting her main attractive feature, which were her eyes. There is no denying Tamara's beauty, but I can't stand the way she behaves.
"Yes, let's get going," I said, watching her every move from the moment she closed her room door to the moment she walked gracefully towards the suite's door, and for the first time in my life, her natural and enthralling presence in the room rendered me speechless.
"Are you coming?" She asked, jerking me out of my trance.
"Yes, sorry," I replied before proceeding to join her at the room's entrance; I opened the door for her, and she walked out before I followed her, closing the door behind me.
I led her to the elevator and we both walked in, the doors closed when we were both in, we rode in silence as the elevator began to move down, annoyed by the silence, I turned to face her and said "Remember your role, Tamara; act as if you're madly in love with me so that our little ruse is not discovered."
"Sure," she said flatly, not even looking at me.
"Sure, that's all you have to say," I asked, my voice more angry than I had anticipated.
"Yes,"
"That's it, Tamara, I've had enough of your tantrum; just get over it; I had you followed because I don't trust you; it's really not a big deal, did you think I'd trust you after we got married?"
"I don't have the time or energy to respond to your ridiculous question, so please drop it, Mr Kingston. You don't need to be concerned about me; I'll be on my best behavior "she said, still not looking at me, which irritated me.
When the elevator door opened just as I was about to continue discussing her unacceptable behavior, she dashed out, leaving me alone in the elevator. As I watched her walk away, a scowl formed on my face; she makes me want to strangle her at times; why can't she just be obedient?
I didn't want to make a scene, so instead of scolding her, I took her hand in mine and led her into the hall where the anniversary dinner was being held. Everyone's gaze was drawn to us as soon as we entered the room, but it was mostly on Tamara. I studied each of their gazes and found admiration, unworthiness, and jealousy, mostly on the female side, so I wrapped my hands around her and led us further into the room before the announcer introduced us.
"Everyone, please welcome the prestigious owner Mr Kingston and his beautiful wife Mrs Tamara Kingston," the announcer said, and the silent room erupted in applause. When I looked down at Tamara, she was smiling, her happy wife mask back on, and she truly looked the part.
Because my ancestors were romantics, the owner and his wife will grace the guest with the first dance of the night, and the tradition is not something I can skip or look down on because my grandfather had eyes and ears everywhere, and sometimes that man truly scares me with the way he always finds out the truth if he wants to.
As the applause died down, I led Tamara to the center, and a soft melody filled the room. We took a step forward, circled each other, our gazes locked on each other, I could see the discomfort in her gaze, I placed my hand on her waist, she placed her left hand on my shoulder, and our free hands finally met. We danced to the music together, our feet moved in perfect sync to the soft melody.
I felt myself relax as the song progressed, and a small smile formed on my lips as my gaze never left Tamara, who appeared slightly more relaxed than before as we both moved to the song together. I turned gracefully, taking Tamara with me, I lifted her up in my arms slightly, giving us a little twirl, and her body moved in sync with me, applause filled the air because of our little stunt, making me feel some sort of pride inside, those hours of being forced to attend dance classes always came in handy in situations like this.
I then guided her across the dance floor, my gaze fixed on her, and for a brief moment, I swear I saw her smile, and it wasn't forced like the others; it looked like she was truly enjoying herself dancing with me.
"I really don't know how to dance, Mr Kingston," she confessed.
I smiled as I lightly squeezed her hand. "Really," I chuckled softly, "I haven't noticed."
When the song ended, the applause from the audience filled our ears. I couldn't help but smile as I watched her perform admirably. I wondered why I hadn't noticed it earlier; she was quite cute when she wasn't arguing or opposing me. I had no idea when I leaned in and my lips met hers, she went still in my arms and the cheers grew louder. Tamara didn't kiss me back during the kiss, so I pulled away to take in her reaction, but she didn't give me a chance and immediately ran out of the room.