“Did you?”
“Yes. What’s your point?”
“Nothing. Go ahead.”
“Jax thinks the paparazzi may have a family, so give him money or a camera or whatever.” I glanced over at Jax, who was smiling broadly at me, and I rolled my eyes. “Make sure he’s happy.”
I ended the call and took Jax’s arm again to go inside.
“That was very sweet.”
“Hmm.”
“It would have been even sweeter if you hadn’t done it in the first place,” Jax said, “but it was still quite nice.” I looked down at him incredulously, and he laughed and stood on his tiptoes to pull my face down for a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re not as mean as you like people to think.”
He laughed again at the expression on my face, and before I could make a move to stop him, he slipped out of his jacket and handed it to a servant who had been standing by for that purpose. He sashayed into the large reception room ahead of me before I could say a word to stop him, and I saw several men stop in their tracks to stare at his delectable little ass. One spit out his drink, and another stumbled into a door frame.
I wasn’t mean, huh? If he could read my current thoughts concerning what I’d like to do to those men for their thoughts about him, I think he would have changed his mind in a hurry.
Chapter Seven
Jax
I began to have fun at the party as soon as Dominic began to act all protective toward me. Was it wrong that I loved it so much? Admittedly what he’d done to the paparazzi was way over the top, but the way he acted when he thought men were flirting with me was even worse. Almost as soon as I’d taken off my coat, he was coming up behind me with his beautiful, expensive suit coat and draping it over my shoulders.
“What’s this?” I asked in surprise, and he shrugged.
“It’s chilly in here. I thought you might be cold.”
I laughed and it was a little too loud, because I felt happy all of a sudden. I had seen his face when he saw my tights, and I knew what the real reason was. A few people turned my way and smiled along with me, as if my laugh was infectious. I slipped his coat off my shoulders and handed it back to him.
“Thank you, but I’m fine.”
A man I knew named Jerry, who was a customer and who came in often for breakfast muffins at the shop, happened to be passing by and overheard my remark. He stopped and looked me up and down and gave a teasing wolf whistle. Then he laughed and said, “Yes, you are.”
He almost jumped out of his skin when Dominic gave a sudden, menacing snarl and took an aggressive step toward him, his pupils going solid red. I flung myself over in front of Jerry, deciding this teasing my Alpha thing could be way too dangerous, and I needed to stop. Like now.
“On second thought,” I said, turning and putting both hands on Dominic’s chest. “Could I put your jacket on, please, Dominic?” I pulled his face down and made him look at me while my friend made his escape, and I pretended to shiver. “Iama little cold.” I put on some pouty lips. “Please, Dominic. Can you help me?”
His eyes glazed over, and he immediately whipped his jacket off again and helped me put it on. He was so much bigger than me that it came down almost to my knees and totally messed up my cute outfit. But if it helped save lives, I suppose it was worth it.
“Thank you,” I said, beaming up at him. Dominic blinked at me a couple of times and then gazed back down at me with such a dazed expression still on his face that I decided to see how far I could take this. I batted my eyelashes a few times and lifted my lips up and parted them slightly. At the same time, I brushed my hand over his hard cock and the next thing I knew my dragon was picking me up and shoving me against the closest wall. He lowered his mouth over mine and took my lips with a loud moan right there in the middle of the crowded entryway.
Covering me with his big body, he had unbuttoned my shirt and was starting to push down my leggings when Kyle suddenly showed up, pulling on his arm and talking urgently in his ear. Dominic turned to growl at him too but seemed to be listening a little to what he was saying. People were walking by and looking at us with avid curiosity, so I hid my hot face against his chest. That’s when I heard a loud voice beside us.
“Dominic Bousset, what on earth are you up to with this young man?” I raised my head a bit and saw a gorgeous woman with skin like dark chocolate. She was showing it to good advantage in a glamorous, designer, gold-sequined gown. She was standing beside us, and oh my God, it was Raquel Ramon, and this was not at all the way I wanted to meet her.
Between me pushing at his chest and Kyle’s urgent pleas in his ear, Dominic was beginning to come around and realize where we were, and maybe even that it would be a really bad idea to ravish me in Raquel Ramon’s foyer.
He blinked at Raquel a few times, as I yanked my underpants and my leggings all the way back to my waist and began rebuttoning my shirt. Kyle gave Dominic a little shove toward her and stepped over to hide me from view as I worked on my clothes.
Raquel came forward and slipped her arm in his, turning him away and walking inside with him. “Your date will be fine, Dominic, and I’m sure he’ll join us in a moment. In the meantime, I have some people I’d like you to meet.”
I was happy she’d defused the situation, but not at all pleased at how she had just appropriated my date for herself, nor the way she was leaning into Dominic and murmuring in his ear as she led him away. I realized that for the first time in my life I felt real jealousy.
“Are you okay?” Kyle was asking as I finished straightening myself up and took a deep breath. “I swear I’ve never seen my brother act like that before. I’m so sorry, Jax.”
“I’m fine.” And I was. It wasn’t as if he’d hurt me in any way, and to be honest, I’d totally provoked that reaction. “I was flirting with him and maybe overdid it a bit. I knew it was dangerous—I grew up with Alphas. But I just hadn’t realized how intense it could actually be.”