Chapter 29 – Reese
RUN
REESE
Wow.
I knew the Voss family was wealthy, but this was on a whole new, entirely disgusting level.
The “manor” was an enormous estate that sat on what was about thirty acres of land, and the driveway was like…two miles long.
Probably not, but it felt like it. Especially in the new shoes Dakota had gotten me. Breaking them in on his family’s driveway was not what I’d envisioned, but they were the nicest pair I owned now. I couldn’t exactly walk into this with my dirty sneakers that were riddled with holes, could I?
I mean, I could, but I didn’t want to.
“Nervous?”
I looked over at Dakota, who had a lollipop in his mouth, his cheek bulging with it. “We’re about to have a feast, and you’re gorging yourself on candy?”
He pulled the lollipop out and pressed it against my lips before I knew what he planned on doing.
I sputtered and shoved his hand away. “What—I don’t want that, it’s been in your mouth!”
I licked my lips, trying to get rid of the sticky candy he’d smeared on me.
Dakota’s eyes were fastened on my lips. “What? My tongue’s in my mouth and you like to suck on that.”
I thought I’d be used to the things he said by now, but my face still started to burn. “You—”
He grabbed my elbow and pulled me to a stop. “Come here darling, you’ve got something on your face.”
“Dakota—”
He wasn’t listening to me, just leaned in and licked along my bottom lip. He made a satisfied humming sound, then framed my face in his hands and stepped closer. “Still got some stuff here.”
He slotted one of his legs between mine, his thigh pressing into my hardening dick. I moaned into his mouth and clutched at the lapels of his shirt as my hips started to move.
Then he abruptly stepped back and slid the lollipop back into his mouth, grinning at me like an asshole.
“You’re such a dick,” I said breathlessly, glaring at him.
But he was a sexy dick. He’d put on a dress shirt—I didn’t even know he owned one—and nice slacks for the party, pulling out all the stops for Val. Black Chucks completed the delicious ensemble.
I, on the other hand, was wearing the nicest sweater I owned—which wasn’t so nice—and a pair of black jeans I was trying to pass off as dress pants.
He laughed and kissed the side of my head, then ran his hands through the growing strands. “Your hair’s getting longer. Want me to even it out for you later?”
I reached up to tug at a lock. “Maybe.”
“So? Are you nervous?”
I glanced sidelong at Dakota, who now had a bag of candy instead of a lollipop. “Nope,” I lied.
“Liar.”
I pushed him, then felt horrible when he dropped his candy and looked utterly devastated.
“Damn it, that was my last bag,” he pouted, stopping to pick up the pieces and shove them back into the bag.
I helped him clean it up, then climbed onto his back and kissed his neck. “Sorry. That was really mean. I’ll buy you ten bags to replace it.”
He grabbed my arms, holding me in place, and stood up, forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist or fall.
He turned his head so his lips brushed against mine as he said, “I want something else.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m in the mood for something sweet and sour.”
“Pork?”
He laughed and licked my cheek. “No, you, dummy.”
“I think you’re in for just sour, then.”
He faced forward and held me tight under my legs, walking toward the house. “Nah. There’s some sweet in there. I’ll find it, don’t worry. I’m nothing if not persistent.”
Yeah, he was. I propped my chin on his shoulder and drew lazy circles over his chest.
In spite of the fact that his family was…well, not great, to put it lightly, I was a little nervous.
Because seeing the dean in this kind of situation, and knowing how we were deceiving Dakota, weighed on my heart like an anvil crafted with metal spikes.
But maybe this was the perfect opportunity to clear Dakota’s name. If I could just get Albert alone, I could tie up all the loose ends today.
There must’ve been at least a thousand people here.
It was overwhelming. I’d never attended an event like this before, and I was so afraid of losing Dakota in the crowd that I’d wound my finger through one of his belt loops and held on so tight it was cutting off the circulation.
This was beyond a party; it was what I imagined a gala for royalty might look like. The manor was even bigger on the inside, and the crux of the party was in the ballroom.
They had a motherfucking ballroom.
With a stage.
There was an enormous chandelier that was probably made of real diamonds hanging in the center of the ceiling; there were waiters dressed like old-timey butlers or valets or whatever walking around holding silver trays of fancy-looking finger foods; and everyone was dressed so nicely that I stood out like a sore thumb.
I’d actually told Dakota that verbatim and he’d just called me a sexy sore thumb.
There was a smattering of dining tables closer to the stage, and just before that an open area where a few people were dancing.
Like, waltzing.
“Dakota,” I whispered, tugging on his pants.
“Mm.” He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, gently tugged me loose from his pants, then slid his palm up to mine and linked our fingers. “What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t tell me it was gonna be like this.” I swept a hand out, gesturing at everything.
Instead of laughing at my discomfort, he rubbed his thumb back and forth on my hand and said, “Do you want to leave? We don’t have to stay, Val will understand.”
“No, it’s okay, I just…”
Am so entirely out of my element.
But I had Dakota. Everything would be fine.
I smiled up at him. “It’s fine, I’ve just never been to something like this before.”
A microphone screeched, and then a voice came over the loudspeakers.
“Will everyone please take their seats? The auction will begin in a few short minutes.”
Auction?
“Come on.” Dakota took my hand and linked our fingers together, pulling me through the crowd.
My heart was doing all sorts of gymnastics in my chest as I stared at our joined hands and tried not to trip.
He dragged me to a long table where Val and the rest of his family were already seated. Val smiled and waved at us, standing to hug Dakota, who kissed him on the cheek.
Val turned those big, sweet eyes on me. “I’m so happy you could make it,” he said. He embraced me in a tight hug, and I was so stunned I almost didn’t hug him back. But Dakota was there, smiling down at me. He grabbed my wrists and wrapped them around his brother’s back for me.
“Yeah,” I said. “Of course. Congratulations.”
Val pulled back and smiled. “Thank you.” He gestured at the table. “Come on, sit with us.”
I glanced at Albert, who was glaring at me like shit he’d stepped in. The woman seated next to him was his wife, I assumed. Evelyn. She was staring straight ahead with a somewhat dazed expression, pupils blown wide.
Jesus.
I smiled at Albert, then let Dakota drag me down into the seat between him and Val.
Everett was sitting across from us, leaning back in his chair with one arm slung across the back of the empty seat beside him, looking around the room with a bored expression.
I’d never met a more disconnected family in my life.
I looked around the room. People were either sitting at their tables eating foods I couldn’t pronounce or milling around the ballroom, drinking and gossiping and whispering and judging.
Probably, who knew.
I still couldn’t get past the fact that they had a ballroom with a fucking stage. With curtains.
“It’s not so bad, right?”
Dakota’s warm breath on my ear raised the fine hairs at the nape of my neck.
I slid my hand over his thigh under the table, smiling when he jumped. “It’s not horrible. I’ve definitely been to worse functions.”
He raised his brows as he smiled. “Oh? Do tell.”
I squeezed his thigh and then instantly regretted it when he moaned.
Heads turned toward Dakota, who coughed to cover it up.
This really wasn’t so bad. Not when I had Dakota right next to me.
The next hour was a blur of Dakota whispering an endless mix of sweet and naughty things in my ear, of sly touches beneath the table, and eating foods that I had no hope of identifying.
The curtains of the stage parted at some point, and an emcee stood up there and showed off items that were strategically placed around the stage.
Dakota informed me that Albert wanted to capitalize on this and sell some of Val’s photographs.
It was unbelievable that this party was thrown to celebrate Val’s accomplishment, and here they were having a fucking auction.
It ended a little while later, the curtains closed, and some kind of dessert was served.
“I thought you didn’t like chocolate,” Dakota said with a smirk. He licked the tines of his fork clean as I watched him, heat gathering low in my belly.
I glanced down at my plate, where there was a half-eaten chocolate cheesecake.
Damn. Who knew a lie from when we’d first met would come back to bite me in the ass?
“It’s fine, I already knew it was a lie. Who doesn’t like chocolate?”
I glared at him, then hooked my foot around his ankle and tried dragging him closer to me.
He didn’t budge.
“You should really—”
Val coughed, and Dakota’s posture stiffened, his gaze shifting to his brother.
I turned to see Val clutch at his throat, and then he started clearing it repeatedly. His face was turning red, and his voice was scratchy when he asked, “Are there nuts in here? Did someone—”
“Oh, fuck.” Dakota pushed his chair back so quickly it fell over behind him, and then he was digging into Val’s pocket while I just sat there, stunned.
And the rest of his family just sat there, too. Like Val wasn’t choking to death or having an allergic reaction that could potentially kill him, like their son and brother wasn’t suffering.
Fuck this family.
Dakota’s body language became more frantic, and in a panicked tone, he asked, “Where’s your EpiPen? Fuck, where is it?!”
Albert stood up and pulled his phone from his pocket as he walked toward Val.