Somehow, it didn’t surprise him when Mr. Castillo walked away without even a simple goodbye to either of them.
“I see where Grant gets his winning personality from.”
He dealt with rude people all the time. Unfortunately, it was a part of life. But Tory's father and Mr. Castillo were close friends, or so Tory claimed. You'd think the guy would be polite to his friend's only daughter. The one that you wanted to marry your son and become part of your family.
Tory took another bite of her dessert, and her lips closed around the fork. Although his mind shouldn't be going there, he envisioned her lips doing the same thing, only around him.
Don't go there.
“What do you think of the dessert?” he asked as a way to clear the erotic images from his head.
He didn't know the name of it, but it had looked tasty, so he'd selected it for her. He wasn't sure what his dessert was called or what was in it either, but it was delicious. Currently, he was contemplating a second piece while there was still some left.
“It's excellent. You made a great selection. Yours?”
“Great. I wish I knew what it's called.” Without knowing what it was, it'd be almost impossible to look for at home. “So, is Mr. Castillo always so friendly?”
Tory took another forkful before answering. “He's never as friendly as Becky, but he is usually better than he was tonight. Kenneth wasn't happy you were with me.”
“Really? I hadn't noticed.” Duncan added an extra dose of sarcasm to his voice. “I thought he was going to offer to adopt me.”
The dimple he always wanted to kiss when he saw it appeared, and she touched his forearm. “Don't worry. I'm happy you are here.” Leaning closer, she kissed his cheek.
“How about you try that again?” He turned in his chair so that he faced her.
Tory's smile grew, and she skated her lips against his. The act was soft and sweet. “Believe me, I'm delighted you are here.”
She pressed her lips against his again. This time, the kiss was anything but sweet. Everyone and everything slipped away as heat coursed through his body and all his blood headed south below his belt. Not exactly the best place for it to be at the moment. Unfortunately, he was powerless to stop it.
Tory broke away, a small smile still on her face. “Convinced now?”
“Yeah, I'd say so.”
“Good. Do you want to dance?”
She'd know what he wanted if she looked down, and it wasn't dancing. Their relationship had yet to go past kissing. Mentally, he had no issues with that. Even if you counted the time they'd spent together before landing in Puerto Rico as the start of their relationship, they hadn't been together long. He'd slept with a few women after only a few dates, but unlike some of his friends, he preferred to know a woman well before becoming intimate. At least for him, it added to the experience. He assumed Tory felt the same because she'd never tried to move things into the bedroom.
Unfortunately, his body wasn't always on the same page, like now.
Dancing was one of those things he could take or leave. But she wouldn't have asked if she didn't want to dance. “Sure, but let's finish dessert first.”
Maybe by then, his body would've forgotten about their kiss.
Yeah, right.
THIRTEEN
Hearing that Harper,Duncan's younger sister, had completed an internship in Washington, DC, and now worked for Congressman Joel Seabrook had caught her off guard. Not once had Duncan mentioned his sister or any member of his family was interested in politics. Of course, she hadn't asked either, but it wasn't a topic that often came up in conversation. However, outside, she'd quickly dismissed the information because not everyone who worked for a politician or spent time in DC wanted to hold an office someday. Instead, many wanted to work as speech writers or be a part of the politician's public affairs team.
Suspicion crept its way back into her head on their way upstairs, and she'd been unable to shove it aside again. And then, while sitting on the balcony, she'd brought up the subject. Now, as she stared toward the ceiling—the room was so dark she couldn't see it—she wished she hadn't.
According to Duncan, his sister planned to run for a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives next year. Then possibly move on to a seat in Congress once she had experience and had reached the minimum age required. However, he'd admitted that he didn't understand why his sister would want to enter either local or national politics. His actual words had been that he'd prefer to work cleaning rest stop bathroom toilets with a toothbrush than work on Capitol Hill.
On that, Tory agreed. How so many of her family members did it was the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle in her book.
Duncan's personal view, though, did nothing to dismiss the suspicion nagging at her. Even in a local election, the Sherbrooke name would go a long way. Duncan loved his sister, but would he get involved with Tory in the hopes it would give his sister a significant boost?
The night of the auction, she'd proposed the crazy idea of him pretending to be her boyfriend, and he had agreed quickly. But at the same time, he had no way of knowing their relationship would change. Everything could have played out as they'd agreed, and on Sunday, when they landed in Boston, they would go their separate ways.