NINE
AVOIDING HIM WAS easier than she thought. She didn’t sit next to him and moved whenever he got too close. Dougie was a great buffer and a hilarious little guy. It also helped that with four Breckenridge brothers present, crowds gathered.
Not only did the Breckenridge teams mix and mingle, others, spectators and players, hung out with them. Some asked questions, told stories, jokes, gave pointers, and got them too. Perfect for her. More people diluted any requirement to be anywhere near him.
“Cabe!” Darroch shouted over those around their lane, getting his brother’s attention. “Ast!”
With both brothers following his nod, he grabbed Dougie, guiding him through bodies, toward the front of the building.
Being short and at a lower level, she couldn’t see whatever he’d noticed. Whispers didn’t take long to reveal the secret.
“She actually came,” Celeste said, hurrying away.
“Alice Breckenridge again,” Yvette said, choosing her ball. “Guess she’s here for the reveal. I never imagined seeing her in a place like this.”
Had they ever imagined seeing her anywhere? Alice Breckenridge was not supposed to socialize with the sales staff. That they’d drifted onto her radar was nothing more than pure, dumb luck.
They were only minutes away from the end of the tournament. Breckenridge winners couldn’t be decided in a monetary amount because it was impossible to know who’d spent the most. They could’ve worked on an honor system, though that wasn’t likely to succeed with Celeste and Maureen at the helm.
Yvette went to take her shot.
She, herself, had never been a bowling aficionado, but usually did okay. Easier said than done in practice when Darroch Breckenridge’s eyes seemed to follow her everywhere. She felt them again, on the back of her neck. It had to be her imagination. No way could—
“Mom, you remember Savanna.”
Whipping around, there they were, Darroch with his mom on his arm, right behind her.
“Yes, of course,” Alice said. “Have you enjoyed today?”
“Ha, I—yeah, uh, it’s been fun.” Thank God it was nearly over. Harder to just walk away from the guy when he brought the world’s most affable woman with him. “Thank you for coming to support us.”
“I had to be here for the announcement of the Breckenridge winner. It’s exciting. Have my boys conducted themselves appropriately?”
“Oh, I—” Her eyes rose to Darroch though his were decidedly cooler than usual. “Yes, they’re a credit to you, perfect gentlemen. Dougie is especially funny.”
The woman beamed. “He does like to please the crowd. I apologize if they’ve drawn exceptional interest to your station here. Unfortunately, it happens often.”
“No need to apologize,” she said. “They’ve dealt with it well and kept their focus. Would you excuse me?”
“Oh, yes, certainly.”
Skirting around them, she sped toward the restroom just for somewhere else to be. Yvette would finish her turn and then maybe they could get out of there. The timer showed less than two minutes until the end of play time. There’d be a speech or something from the charity, probably. Their scores would take seconds to print out from—
Someone grabbed her arm and redirected her through a nearby door.
Her back hit a wall and he slammed a hand to the concrete far above to lean in.
“Darroch,” she gasped.
“Jeremy’s your ex.” Was that a statement or a question? “He’s your ex, right?”
Question. “Yes. I don’t know what—”
“The jerkoff still bothers you?” Though her mouth opened, her jaw tightened soon after and her lips circled, she had no idea what to say. “If he still bothers you, I’ll deal with him.”
“How?” The word came out before the question fully formed. “Hire some guy to—”
“Hire? No.” His low laugh was almost sinister. “I deal with that kind of shit by myself.”
“You shouldn’t be here.” She pushed at his chest. “Your mother is out there. The people crowd too clo—”
“She’s with my brothers. Soon as we can stand upright we’re taught how to protect her. Think my dad would have it any other way?”
Man, she shouldn’t swoon, but that was sweet… and sexy.
“Okay, we should get back out there.”
He hooked her chin to raise it up. “No more.”
The depth of his calm, of his certainty, lightened the pulse in her chest, allowing it to float to her throat, ascending to the delicate need lingering on her tongue.
“Darroch…” She barely got the word out.
“No more talk of bets or guys like me. I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you, Cherry. What I want from you is real, genuine, prompted by nothing except my own desire for you.”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“Because this Jeremy still lives in your head. Is he in your heart? You still love him?”
She blinked in surprise. “No! God, no!”
“Get him out of your mind too,” he said, the pad of his thumb sweeping back and forth on the front of her chin, his other curled fingers still supplying a rest. “Move him out, I need more room in there, baby. That’s what I want, to be all you think about.”
Not asking much, was he?
“I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“No, because one already found you. I’m right here, baby. All you need. At your command.”
Descending, the liberty his mouth took with hers could only be intuitive. Whatever they had to say would wait. Despite her objection, the conflict fled in the wake of his mouth’s torment. All she wanted was this. Being with him, under his mouth, satisfying his need, it filled her with accomplishment. Her own desire was fulfilled by pleasing his.
A whimper vibrated from her throat to his as she clung to his shoulders, digging her nails in, wishing him closer. Contact, that was what she wanted, full body, full naked body contact.
The seal of their mouths broke, he gathered her hands into his and held them to his chest.
“May I take you to dinner?”
“No,” she panted, fixated on his mouth. “No dinner.” Freeing her hands, she tried to pull him lower again. “I don’t want dinner.”
On a rumble of a laugh, he cupped her face in both hands and touched his mouth to hers again for a second, not long enough. “I want the same thing.”
“How far’s your hotel?”
“We’re not doing this that way.” He scooped her hands together again, just at the base of his throat. “Dinner.”
She yanked her hands free and flattened them on the wall. Looking at him, acknowledging what they were doing, erased her good sense and sucked away her inhibitions. Her eyes closed, her chin rose, and she exhaled.
“What the fuck is wrong with me?”
“The same thing that’s wrong with me.”
Obviously not, if she was propositioning men in what turned out to be a darkened stairwell.
“This is a bad idea, I can’t—I would never…” Though she didn’t trust herself to open her eyes, she did steady herself on her feet again, without using the wall for support. “You’re my boss and I need my job—”
“I am not your boss and your job is not at risk. My family don’t work that way. Can’t you tell already? Haven’t we conducted ourselves with integrity?”
“Yes,” she said, her eyes springing open. “Oh, God, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”
“But you still think we’d fire you if this relationship didn’t work out?”
“No, it’s—the people I work with—”
“You want to keep this between us, I heard you. This doesn’t have to be public knowledge until we’re ready.”
“If we go out somewhere for dinner, everyone will see—”
“Private dining, baby. We can eat in private. Or you can come to the house, no one else has to know.”
“Except your entire family.”
“You’ve seen how big the house is.”
Which meant what?
“I don’t know, it’s—this is happening too fast, I need to… I need to think.” Acting based on heated desire wouldn’t put her on a reliable path. “Give me your number, I’ll call.”
Would she? Maybe. The pondering fled when he stepped back.
“I… don’t give out my number.”
Another quick cool moment. “Okay,” she said with an incredulous brow raise. “Well, that was an easy decision.”
Striding past him, she ignored his plea for her to wait and went back to their group just as applause died down.
“Where did you go?” Yvette asked, joining her. “You missed the end.”
“It’s okay. I’m ready to go home.”
“There’s talk of the Breckenridge guys taking the two teams out for drinks. The older ones.”
Sure, the older ones.
“You have my blessing, but I need to stand in the shower for an hour.”
“You and your showers.”
“I think better in there.”
“Okay, you can go have your shower, after they call the Breckenridge head-to-head.”
Shit. Right. The exciting part. Apparently.
Alice stood at the head of the Luxe Leathers lane. Caber was at her back and moved aside to let Darroch stand beside him when he showed up. In a heartbeat, he zeroed in on her.
Shit. She dropped her eyes. Why did he do that? Yeah, they could have a relationship, sure. In what kind of relationship did a girlfriend not have her boyfriend’s number? If he couldn’t trust her with that, what else was there? So much for not doing things that way. With that kind of barrier, what more could there be?
Dougie and Astor ran up to their mother, each with a stream of paper.
Alice caught both with a smile and kissed each of them.
“Thank you, sweethearts.”
The younger boys went to join the older ones. The four moved aside, two left, two right, giving their mother privacy to read the scores.
“We have a clear winner in our Breckenridge face off,” she said and raised an arm. “Congratulations, Luxe Leathers!”
The triumphant brothers rushed to the others to jeer their counterparts.
It wasn’t right; she shouldn’t be relieved they hadn’t won. Yet when Alice announced the winning team would be treated to dinner in an exclusive city restaurant, Breckenridge family included, relief definitely prevailed. Some of the family or all of them? That might be a sight to see.
“Now we have an excuse to get drunk,” Yvette said. “We suck at bowling.”
“Enjoy yourself.” She swept her purse from a nearby seat. “See you Monday.”