I lean in and whisper, “How’s that plug between those beautiful cheeks?”
That makes her lose her dignified look almost instantly. Her pupils dilate and she wriggles in her seat. “Hot,” she squeaks out.
“Good,” I whisper. “Tonight, when daddy takes it out, he’ll reward you so fucking well for your obedience, baby.”
She swallows hard. “I look forward to that.”
Shane arrives with a date on his arm, followed by Darius and his wife Katie. They join us, smiling at us in greeting. Miranda grins as we both stand to greet them. Katie is a former employee of Miranda’s, and the girls have stayed friends.
The evening is nearly flawless, and Miranda makes me so proud as she continues to smile, make small talk, not at all embarrassed by the limelight, even when we’re asked to “pose” for “candid shots.”
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” she says with a giggle as she sips another glass of champagne.
“How much have you had to drink, babe?”
She looks at me with wide eyes and shakes her head. “I have no,” hiccup, “idea.”
I take the flute from her hand and hand it to a waiter. “Let’s take a little break, then. I want you awake when I get you home tonight.” She looks longingly at the glass.
“But I need some liquid courage.”
I kiss her cheek. “I’ll give you some liquid courage.”
I whisk her quickly away from the crowd, to a secluded sitting area. Only one other couple sits in the far corner of the room, their backs turned from us.
“Where are we?” she asks in wonder.
“I always insist I have a quiet place to go to if necessary. Darius is excellent about providing a little area just like this.”
She sighs and yawns. “This is perfect. It gets almost… suffocating in there.”
I nod. “Tell me about it. And this is one of the better ones, a lot more room to spread out than in some of the more remote parts of France.”
I sit in one of the large armchairs, reach for her hand, and tug her onto my lap. She sits heavily with a little oof, and I quickly nestle her up against me.
“I’d love to join you in France some day,” she says, her eyes a little dreamy and unfocused, and I’m not sure if it’s from the champagne or her daydreams. Maybe a little bit of both.
I nod. “You’ve only ever traveled to Canada, right? When you had that issue with crossing the border coming back home.”
“Yeah, that was crazy. I was traveling…” She looks at me curiously, her brow furrowed. “Hold up. How did you know that? I don’t remember telling you that.”
Shit. Strategic error. I’m not supposed to let on that I’ve looked into her background. Fuck. Or, that I’ve looked into everything about her.
I shrug. “Thought you mentioned something about it?” My stomach tightens. I hate lying to her.
She blinks, frowning just a little, and I swear she looks even more gorgeous when she frowns than when she smiles.
“Funny. I don’t remember.” Then she gives a little shrug. “But we’ve talked about so many things, it’s all beginning to run together.”
Her phone buzzes in her bag. She looks to me for permission to answer it.
I brush my thumb over her cheek. “Good girl. You’ve learned so well. Yes, answer your phone.” I won’t deny her this when she runs a business and has family that depends on her.
“Lexi again?”
“Hello?” She shakes her head. It’s not Lexi but her ringtone? “Oh. Hi, Mom.”
Her eyes come to mine, widening. “You took Lexi’s phone to call me. Good, I’m glad you did that, Mom, but is everything okay?”
A little worry line knits between her brows. “What do you mean, Lexi’s crying in the other room? She won’t tell you what’s wrong?” She listens, then sighs. “You’re talking on her cell, Mom. I can’t talk to her any other way.” She nods. “Okay, you do that. Call me back, okay?”
She hangs up the phone. “That’s strange,” she says. “Mom called and said she’s worried because Lexi left the dining room crying. They were having dinner together. Lexi got a call. Then left in tears, her phone on the table. Lexi told me everything was fine.”
“Maybe Lexi doesn’t want to worry you?”
She nods. “Maybe.”
“I can have Shane find out whatever you need.”
She blinks, then blinks again. “What do you mean?”
Christ, I need to stop talking. “He’s my assistant is all I mean. He could make a few calls, see if he can find anything out.”
“Find out things about my sister’s private life?” Her blue eyes grow clouded, and her voice is a little tighter. “That’s a little creepy, Gabriel.”
I keep myself calm. I can’t lose her, not now, not when we’re making such excellent progress.
Not when she’s this close to being mine.
“Or we could fly out there again, if you’d like.”
She blows out an exasperated breath. “We can’t exactly fly out to California every time my sister cries.”