Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“Wow. I didn’t… uh… Thank you,” I say with more certainty this time. “I really appreciate that.”
She tilts her head gracefully, acknowledging my words. “Though my husband speaks fondly of Dylan, I don’t know him all that well, but what I do know is that he hasn’t taken his eyes off you the whole time he’s been forcibly detained for a discussion he has no interest in.” Her eyes sparkle as she cuts them across the room.
I follow her gaze and find Dylan smiling politely at the governor, who’s talking passionately about something. But Dylan’s eyes are on me. He lifts a brow in question, and I nod, offering a small smile and a wave, letting him know I’m okay.
Because I am… I’m okay. We’re okay.
After that moment, the fear of someone saying anything is released. It’s like I simply let it go. Instead, the night is filled with chatter and laughs, champagne glasses and cheers.
The night is seamless, and I can't believe it’s over when Dylan wraps his arm around me and tells me it’s time to go. It flew by. With the ball over and so many others leaving, we make our way down the way we came in, and once again, it feels surreal. Only this time, for a different reason.
As Dylan and I walk out, I can feel him silently gloating. “What is it?”
“You were amazing,” he says, “and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Did you see the Faulkners there or something?” I ask, the nerves threatening to come back up again, and Dylan shrugs. Holding the door for me, we slide into the back seat of the car, and Vince closes it for us. “What’s that mean?”
“It means I didn’t notice or even think to look,” Dylan says. “I only had eyes for you.”
My first response is the warmth that flows through me, but the second is a sobering realization.
I realize that he’s right. I didn’t see Evan or any of his family there tonight, but I also wasn’t even thinking of them. I was enjoying myself, meeting people in the industry, talking about the city, and grateful for being at Dylan’s side, watching him have a good time.
Everything else seems insignificant outside of that.
I lean over, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I saw that,” I tell him with a pleased smile. “Did the governor try to talk you into joining him? His wife seemed to think he would.”
Dylan huffs out a long-suffering sigh but seems more amused than annoyed. “Every time I see him, he does. I’m not opposed to being on the city council, but I don’t know how I’d make time. Tamara would probably throw my schedule at me and tell me to figure it out myself.” He laughs, and I do too, knowing that his assistant would do no such thing.
“As long as she pencils me in,” I tease.
Dylan pulls me to his side, cupping my jaw. Right before he kisses me, he murmurs, “I don’t know what I’d do without our standing six o’clock meetings every day.”
And then his mouth is on mine, his lips moving lower, and nothing else in the world matters as the back of the car gets hotter and hotter.
CHAPTER 31
DYLAN
I’m sure Vince hurries as much as is humanly possible, but I’m not sure we’re going to make it. I need to be inside Raven. Now.
Fuck, I’ve wanted her from the second that apartment door opened, and as the night went on, all I could wonder was what was hiding under that silver dress.
As I kiss her, I try to think of anything other than how her hands feel on me and how fucking hot those small moans are that she gives me when I break away for a moment of air.
I settle on the night. On the PR. On how fucking perfect it went.
She was magnificent tonight. There were curious glances and whispers, of course, but if she noticed, she didn’t let it show. She was confident, beautiful, proud to be with me, and spoke eloquently to every person she interacted with. She has utterly bewitched me, but tonight, she cast a spell on the entire room. It was glorious, and I nearly had to pinch myself every time I remembered that she is mine.
She is mine. In every way.
Thankfully, Vince somehow cuts through the city traffic and gets us to my penthouse in record time. I don’t wait for him to open the car door. There’s no time for that. I throw it open, help Raven from the car, and virtually carry her toward my private elevator.
It takes twenty-three seconds to get to my floor at the top of the building, two seconds for the door to unlock, and one more to slam it shut behind us.
“Get that dress off or I’m going to tear it off,” I warn her, my breath coming in pants that have nothing to do with my frantic need to get Raven alone and everything to do with my tenuous hold on my ever-present desire for this woman.