Chapter 20
The walk from the bus to the venue hasn’t done a damn thing to cool the feel of her on my lap. I know I probably crossed the line pulling her there, but she erased it by grinding against me.
Her weight is still there between my legs—the heat of her, the deliberate way she moved to take control. She showed me exactly who was in charge, and my body clearly agreed with her.
It was innocent enough on my part, having her sit with me.
When I pulled her into my lap, I thought it killed two birds with one stone.
I didn’t want my nephew cracking his skull open, and it would serve as part of the charade to make us look natural and real.
I don’t want my family to get suspicious, especially as it’s clear I haven’t been spending much time with her the past few days.
I know Enzo and Ava will soon find out what’s really going on, but maybe I can box it to them at least.
It’s probably a futile hope. My family isn’t known for staying out of each other’s business.
The doors to the function room open. The noise hits immediately—music, the low hum of people packed into a tight space.
The room is something between grand and cozy.
The room itself is decked out in flowers, tasteful table decorations, and a mariachi band plays on one end.
The far end of the room is all glass and many of the doors are open, delivering sweeping views of the mountains beyond.
It’s the kind of place you choose when you want something intimate, but still worth remembering.
I step into the space, her hand in mine, even though I now feel it would be best not to touch her for a while, with my body still on fire after what she pulled on the bus.
I can’t avoid it completely though. There is no way my family would believe I’d keep my hands off a woman like her. No man would.
Plus, her ridiculously sexy high heels don’t look easy to walk in, and my mother didn’t leave this world without teaching us how to be gentlemen. So, even though my dick is still half hard, I usher her inside the space.
But as we weave through the crowd, control locks back into place.
She’s on the run, which means Marcus and Luther will be looking.
I scan the room. There are people here from the office, from GhostEye, and quite a few from Starlight Canyon folks we know from our childhood as well. There are also a few of Enzo’s old college buddies. Some of them are from Northern California.
What if someone recognizes Delilah?
It’s unlikely as hell, I know. I’ve never asked, but I assume her dad kept her on a short leash, and she wasn’t exactly running in circles with the nerds Enzo knew.
I glance at her. She’s steady, composed.
But she always looks that way. I do, too, right now, but my heart rate still hikes slightly at the thought of someone recognizing her.
I tighten my grip on her hand and pull her in closer. “Don’t wander off.”
“Possessive much?” She answers with one of her quips, but her fingers tighten around mine—anchoring herself to me.
Maybe she’s thinking the same thing I am.
We move further into the room filled with fresh-cut flowers and candles glowing on every table. A mariachi quartet serenades the space from a far corner, filling the room with the familiar sounds of every celebration I’ve ever had since being a kid.
It should be instantly relaxing, but being in public with Delilah puts me on guard.
A waiter passes with champagne. I take one for my date, and as I do, I catch the gaze of one of my employees, Brad.
His eyes are glued to Delilah.
I turn to consider her—black satin, bare shoulders, that dress cutting high along her leg. She’s impossibly beautiful. Any man’s dream girl just walked into the room and I should expect people to look, but my veins burn.
I don’t share what’s mine.
When I look back again, Brad is sipping what looks like a whisky and Coke, still peering over the rim of his glass at her. He hasn’t clocked me.
I lead her straight toward him, her hand still in mine.
Brad straightens as we approach.
“Hey, Rio,” he says, a little too quickly.
I hand him the champagne I just took, confusing him.
“No,” I say, sharply.
He blinks. “Sorry?”
“If you want to stay in this room, Brad,” I hold his gaze, “no.”
It takes him a second, but then his gaze flicks to Delilah, back at me and he’s met with my arched eyebrow. I’m not having him stare at my girl. Not like that.
Brad holds my gaze for a moment, then rolls his lips and offers a curt nod. “Got it.”
I give a flick of my fingers. “Enjoy.”
He moves off, champagne in one hand, whiskey in the other, suddenly very interested in anywhere but here.
“What was that about?” Delilah asks.
I guide her toward a nearby table, pick up another glass of champagne, and hand it to her.
“He was staring at you.”
Her dazzling green eyes fix on mine as she lifts the flute to her lips.
“You buy me a dress like this and men can’t help themselves,” she says, like a certified manhater. “They’re all pricks.”
I brush hair off her shoulder. “Not when I’m around.”
Her lips curve with a grin that tells me she knows exactly what that grinding on the bus did to me.
I’m showing my cards.
Delilah fucking Cross is irresistibly attractive, even to a man with my restraint.
Just then, my sister’s voice lights up behind me.
“Rio…”
I spin to see her there, with her husband, Logan, and my nephew, Nino. They flew up from New Mexico today.
“Uncle Rio!” Nino says, running toward me, and I bend down to hug him.
I ruffle his hair. “How you doing, Genius?”
“I’m playing keepy-ups with Theo and Owen…” he runs back off to find his cousins.
I stand and open my arms. “Mi hermana…”
Shay clamps her arms around me with a tight, emotional hug. I don’t get to see my baby sister enough. I thought for sure she’d move to Echo Valley once our dad was ready, but then, she ended up marrying a Starlight Canyon man whose roots there are as deep as the gorges.
When Shay unlocks her arms, I hold out my hand to her husband, Logan. He takes it and pulls me in for a backslapping hug.
Shay has a stiff smile on her face as she waits for the introduction. I’m sure she’s been dying to meet my girlfriend.
Placing my hand on the small of Delilah’s back, I usher her forward. “This is Delilah.”
My sister isn’t the type to gush and beam; she’s more of a standoffish type, but this time, she just about spills over with excitement, rushing forward to hug Delilah.
“Ugh. I’m the last to meet you,” Shay says when she releases Delilah.
Shay clasps her hands together in front of her. “Dad told me you’re only here for a while, and you live in Humboldt County?” She hitches her thumb toward me. “I suppose long distance is how you can put up with him, huh?” She teases.
Delilah laughs and threads her arm through mine. I can’t tell if it’s part of the show or if meeting my sister is derailing her. Shay isn’t your bubby, sunshine girl.
She’s been through a lot and her life experience shows in her ability to read people.
She suffered our mom’s passing, moved home to help support Dad, and became a single mom, all by the time she was thirty.
Delilah’s nobody’s fool, and I’m sure, despite Shay’s joke and effort to keep things light, Delilah can read that Shay isn’t one either.
They have more in common than they know.
Neither has the disease to please. Neither cares about being popular.
It’s admirable how comfortable they both are in their skin.
My dad and brothers have been more about integration than interrogation, so my relationship with Delilah hasn’t come under scrutiny at the ranch. But before this event, before we saw Shay, we smoothed out a few things about our story over the past week.
This might be the first time it’s put to the test.
Delilah takes the less is more approach. “I’m no angel. Long distance is probably easier for him that way, too.” She tugs me into her slightly.
Having her touch me again reminds me of the bus, and what it would be like to take this further. Fuck. I need to get that out of my head, but every time I smell her perfume, it makes me think of how her ass felt on my cock. How close I was to her neck, so smooth and exposed.
If I don’t get it under control, being with her in that dress tonight is going to be my problem, not Brad’s.
“You’re funny, Delilah,” Shay replies. “And generous. There’s no way in hell you’re as annoying as the man who is never wrong.”
“How strange,” Delilah looks off into the distance as if in deep thought. “I never noticed that about him before.”
Shay laughs, then glances outside. “Okay—before we lose the chance, Ava told me the light’s best out on the balcony before three. Do you want to grab some photos before we lose the light? You take ours, we’ll take yours?”
Shay’s already heading toward the balcony. Logan follows without question.
Saying no would draw attention—and right now, attention is the bigger risk.
We follow Shay and Logan out onto the balcony, and a stunning canyon yawns out beneath us, where the sun casts perfect shadows into the ravines and folds, a postcard-perfect backdrop, like an oil painting.
The music dulls behind us, replaced by the low rush of wind off the mountains. The view stretches wide and open.
Shay hands me her phone and shuffles toward the stone balustrade, where Logan already stands. The moment she reaches him, he places a hand on the small of her back and another under her backside and swoops her up and into his arms.
“Oh my God,” She laughs and smacks his chest. “Don’t drop me.”
“As if, Pastelito,” he kisses her cheek.
They smile for the camera, and I press the button about twenty times so they have options.
He puts her down, and she hitches her leg up. He grabs it with his hand and I take a few more. Then, there’s a third pose where he bends her over backwards and kisses her, smiles still on their faces when their lips touch.
No hesitation. No thought behind it.
Logan helps her back up to standing and kisses her one last time, letting it linger unabashedly.
“Good thing we can leave the kids with your dad tonight,” he murmurs as if ready to head up to the bedroom.
Shay smiles at him, then pushes him off her as if one of them has to have manners.
I’m glad he’s made her happy and that I didn’t need to break bones.
Shay reaches for her phone from me and shoos us off toward the edge for our turn.
Hell no. I can’t have photos of me and Delilah on someone else’s phone. One image is all it takes. One wrong set of eyes.
I pull my cell out of my inner jacket pocket. “Thanks, but use mine.”
She narrows her eyes. “You’re letting me touch your cell phone?”
I don’t let anyone touch my phone. For years, I’ve kept my devices to myself. It’s for security reasons, but also, I’m a private person.
I don’t reply, just let her gape at me for a moment, then I lead Delilah to the edge by the hand.
I wrap my arm around her, she threads hers around the small of my back and we smile at the camera.
I’m acutely aware of the contrast between them and us.
Shay takes a photo and then looks at it on my phone. “Rio. Seriously? You look like you’re running for the least romantic man of the year. Kiss her or something.”
I glance down at Delilah.
The light catches along her collarbone, then slips down the length of her throat like it’s meant to be followed. But when Alice followed the White Rabbit, she lost all bodily control, and I’m pretty sure I would, too, if I were to follow where the sunset trails down Delilah’s perfect skin.
Her eyes glow, the gold in the green catches the sunlight, becoming stars of their own. Her gaze holds mine, then flicks to my mouth and back again.
I trace the backs of my fingers up the curve of her jaw and brush the fallen strand from her cheek.
Her lips part. Almost in slow motion.
I cradle the base of her skull.
She's trusting me. Right now, with her eyes closing and her body in my arms— she's trusting me. I don't know what to do with it, but I want to deserve it.
I drop my lips to her soft mouth. When we connect, I feel it low in my gut, sharp in my chest. An immediate need surges up from somewhere deep and buried.
I pull her closer and open her mouth with mine. I slide my hand down her waist and rest it on the curve of her ass. It fits perfectly in my palm. Fuck, I want to squeeze her. Take more than she’s giving me because her mouth on mine makes me greedy for more.
Every logical thought drains out of me.
All I can think about is how right every part of her feels, even the softness of her hair woven through my fingers.
The world falls away. Hell — I fall with it.
This doesn't feel like part of the act anymore.
But I don't stop it.
“I didn’t realize it was a competition.” Shay laughs behind us.“Never tell Rio he’s bad at something. He’ll prove you wrong every time.”
I pull back, but not all the way, because I think disconnecting from her too sharply will tear the air right out of my lungs.
Delilah’s still close enough that I can feel her breath against my mouth, her hand still curled in my jacket.
Jesus.
I release her slowly, but my body’s not entirely on board with the decision.
“Got your shot?” I aim my words past Delilah toward Shay.
“Yeah.” She sweeps a finger on the screen. “You two are smokin’.”
Logan towers over her and peers over her shoulder, apparently impressed by our photoshoot.
My gaze snaps back to Delilah, who stares back at me with an unreadable expression. What is she thinking?
What was I thinking?
Whatever that just was—
It wasn’t controlled.
It wasn’t the deal.
And it sure as hell wasn’t fake.