“I’ve been a little busy helping my cousins out with a few situations,” I informed, knowing she knew what situations I was speaking of because I didn’t believe for a second Desiree and Mecca had kept them a secret from her.
“Are you okay?”
Concerned, I placed a delicate hand on her bare shoulder. The initial contact with her skin had me glaring at the spot where I’d placed my hand. Her skin under my fingertips sent a wild current of energy racing through me, and I was forced to swallow the roaring impact of it hitting my system.
“I’m fine, a little emotional,” she stated, waving her hand around at the event to help me understand that joy-crying at a wedding was a normal occurrence.
She was so damn soft and warm and she smelled like fresh rain and sun-kissed peaches. The flowing honey of her skin was a blush suspended in time; light, coppery, glowing caramel kissed by pink and smoother than wind sliding over silk.
A deep inhale closed my eyes, and I released it on a low sigh, sensing her staring the entire time. I enjoyed having her attention. It meant that I was the one taking up space in her head. She hadn’t drawn away or mentioned my hand stroking lightly against her bare shoulder. Instead, she leaned with the slightest movement in my direction. She and I knew how to have entire conversations without saying a single word.
“Excuse me,” a voice called out behind us, but I ignored it and kept my gaze pinned on the woman who had been strolling in and out of my dreams since the first night I’d seen her.
A throat cleared loudly, a reminder that someone was aiming to get our attention.
“Excuse me, but you’re in my seat,” the male voice said, growing louder.
I turned to the man standing behind us. He was a member of the syndicate, a wanna-be big-shot asshole who my father laundered money for. He pointed at the name tag sitting in front of me with “Martin Beckford” engraved in fancy gold letters on the custom-made, blue glass place card.
Patrena sat silently assessing us while my eyes pivoted between the man and the name tag. I picked it up and handed it to him, not caring if he kept it or shoved it up his ass as long as he left me alone. He eyed me with a dramatically lifted brow before reaching to snatch the name tag, jerking his head back in mock offense.
Returning my attention to Patrena, I gave Beckford my back. Her gaze was aimed across my shoulder and off of me. The man was still there, his presence a nuisance I needed to be rid of. The act of removing my hand from her shoulder sent a pang of hurt to my heart.
I stood, rising like a phoenix dusting off the ashes and making the chair belt out an elongated grunt with my deliberately threatening movements. A few stares were aimed in our direction, but most gazes were focused at the stage. I turned into the man’s personal space, allowing all six feet and four inches of my height to intimidate him, who was a few inches shorter but bulkier in body weight.
His eyes blinked a couple of times at my unflinching stare before he cast a quick glance at Patrena and took cautious steps, backing away with his name tag clutched tightly in his hand.
He stormed off with a huff, glancing back and cursing me with his eyes until he became lost in the crowd. I reclaimed my seat next to the only person I was interested in seeing.
“Tywin Vallin,” she called in a hushed tone despite the amusement flashing in her expression. “That was so rude. I didn’t take you for a big bully, but I think I’m starting to see your true colors come out.”
I liked the way she’d said my whole name with that cute little twisted smile that made her beautiful freckles stand out.
“I only get like that with those kinds of privileged pricks that are used to bulldozing their way over people because they have the money and power to get away with it. I didn’t do anything but give him a taste of his own medicine.”
She acknowledged my statement with a nod, and I believed she understood where I was coming from about the man. What I didn’t tell her was that I didn’t want any other man sitting next to her in my presence.
Now, all I had to do was unpin my gaze from hers and focus on the wedding ceremony before she noticed how much being in her presence affected me. That damn one-night bullshit was coming back to bite me in the ass.
“So, Tywin. I see you were right about your penchant for fucking and disappearing,” she stated as casually as if commenting on the weather. Her directness was one of the things I liked about her although she knew damn well we’d done more than fuck.
“I believe I was the perfect gentleman by giving you something you wanted and staying out of your hair so you could find what you need and deserve.”
She leveled a devilish side eye. “Your top lip is bull and your bottom is shit,” she said, fighting a grin.
“What?” I asked, chuckling at her way of calling me a liar.
“I have two perfectly good eyes that can see well enough to know that you’re as attracted to me as I am to you. I hear what that sexy mouth of yours is saying, but your actions are saying something different. Therefore, I suggest you stop lying to yourself and face the facts. You want more than one night. Now, I’m not sure how many more nights we can squeeze out of this, but I believe we owe ourselves the opportunity to find out.”
I had never had a woman call me out like this. Her eyes dropped to my lips because I couldn’t help licking them. She released a sigh before aiming a pretty blue nail at my chest.
“I appreciate your noble efforts to save me from…you, but I don’t like anyone thinking on my behalf. You are determined to save me from something I don’t believe I need saving from.”
She was putting me in my place so smoothly and with such an easy tone that she made it sound more like a compliment. She had no problem saying what was on her mind, and I liked it a lot. My left brow lifted. “Noted. It won’t happen again,” I replied, amused and so turned on to the point I was ready to drag her off to some dark corner.
“I didn’t mean to decide for you. I was wrong,” I admitted, which was something I rarely did even when it was true.
I was no good for Patrena and I knew she was smart enough to know it, but I believed she wanted me to accept that she wasn’t afraid of the stigma attached to my family’s name. She was also daring enough to flirt with the danger she knew was lurking, another quality about her that intrigued me.