Chapter 17
Audrey Tripp
I find Brennan across the room and hesitate as my soul leaps in excitement.
Disbelief still nags at me. He should have shunned me the moment he learned the truth.
Hell, he carved a huge hole in my heart when he cut ties with the family, then my mom chose my stepfather over me even though he kicked us to the curb.
She loved my baby sister more than she loved me.
I couldn’t mourn my own losses when I was so desperate to save my mother. For over a year, we were in and out of different hospitals seeing specialist after specialist. I had no friends. No family. No home.
Now I have Brennan.
He says he’ll never leave me. I want to believe him, but some wounds take time to heal, if they ever do.
He’s too handsome in his new suit. His relaxed stance as he chats with a man I’ve never met before sends need pulsing through me.
The fancy décor and muted discussions are the opposite of how I’d like to spend a Saturday evening, but I already agreed to attend the charity ball with him, so I clear my throat and decline a drink from a passing waitress as I weave through the crowd toward him.
The massive diamond embedded in my engagement ring nearly blinds me.
Part of me still insists Brennan proposed solely to get rid of that clingy rich bitch, but his unwavering support after seeing my mother erases my conscious doubts.
My subconscious will need more time to catch up, but having him by my side helps.
With a slight shift of his weight, he angles his body to search the crowd while he talks with the stranger. The man doesn’t quite tower over Brennan, but with a few extra inches and the bulk of a bodybuilder, he seems like a giant.
Brennan’s eyes capture mine. His smile melts my bones. I skirt around a larger group of men and lose sight of him.
The frustrating lack of bathroom access to the entire back half of the ballroom means a trek through the horde of women dripping with jewelry and wearing big, frilly skirts and men with nonexistent spatial awareness.
By the time I reach his side of the group of men, he ends his discussion with the stranger by way of a handshake and locks eyes with me.
A few yards away, I stop and cross my arms over my chest as the clingy rich bitch plasters herself to his side. Brennan’s lip curls in disgust as he tries to extract his arm from her grip, but she simpers and rubs her boobs against him.
I was nice before. I won’t be nice today.
Her hair—caked in gel—crunches in my fist as I yank her away from my fiancé.
With her balance ruined, I fling her toward what I think is the nearest wall only to cringe in mortification as she hits the tall stranger’s side.
He twists and steps away, sending her crashing to the floor in a brilliant display of satin and diamonds.
Her shriek silences the entire party. She fights her way upward despite her voluminous dress and staggers on her heels as she points a finger at me.
“You! How dare you,” she screeches.
I cross one arm over my chest and check my nails with the other, flashing my ring so the whole world can see it.
“Me? I was just swatting a toad away from my fiancé.”
“A toad?! Why, you—”
I step closer to her. She squeaks and stumbles backward.
“I see swatting was too nice of me. Maybe we should settle this the way your beloved Mr. Diamond would with his competition. Care to meet me on the sparring mats?”
She opens and closes her mouth a few times in a decent impersonation of a fish.
I reach out. She flinches. I adjust her necklace and smile. The curve of my lips promises ruthless retribution.
“Touch my man again and nothing will protect you. Not your pretty face. Not your money. Not your family. Nothing.” I fix her dangling earrings and pull her shawl back onto her shoulder before piercing her with my most serious stare. “Understand?”
Her embarrassment takes a back seat to her fear for a delicious moment before jumping back into the driver’s seat. She huffs, stomps her foot, and scurries away.
I turn to the man I tossed her into.
“I am so sorry! I meant to throw her at the wall,” I say.
Brennan’s familiar cinnamon-and-clove scent sparks happiness in me as he wraps an arm around my waist and plasters me against his side.
“Sebastian Sterling, meet my future bride, Audrey Tripp,” he says.
“Ah, I see now why you’re so enamored with her. I’d kill for a woman who’d fight for my honor like that,” he says in the deepest natural voice I’ve ever heard.
I lean into Brennan, grateful to have him by my side as the behemoth of a man—in a suit, no less—looms over me.
“Like you need anyone to fight for you. Keep your mitts away from my woman, you beast.”
By the lack of menace in his tone—but heaps of tactful warning—and his playful choice of words, it’s obvious they’ve been friends for a while.
“Where do you know each other from?” I ask.
“We were roommates in college before I dropped out. I tried to shake him like I did everyone else, but he’s as protective as a mama bear, and somehow he confused me with one of his cubs.”
Mr. Sterling shrugs.
“I have an eye for people.”
If he sensed something in Brennan, he was right. My boss, fiancé, and ex-stepbrother went from rags to riches all on his own.
“Then obviously you can tell Audrey didn’t mean to toss the trash at you,” Brennan snarks.
A wry smile flits across Mr. Sterling’s face.
“Of course. You’re forgiven, soon-to-be Mrs. Diamond,” he says.
My mind blanks. I turn wide eyes up at Brennan. He chuckles, makes our excuses, and leads me away from his friend.
“If you don’t close your mouth, I’m going to take it as an invitation to ravage you,” my evil fiancé says.
I snap my teeth together and glare at him. He stops next to an empty cocktail table along the edge of the ballroom and tucks us closer to the wall, putting as much space between us and the crowd as possible.
“I am so hard right now,” he whispers in my ear.
“Stop. Now isn’t the time or the place.”
“Now is always the time. The place, though… I’m sure there’s a dark corner somewhere.”
“Don’t you dare,” I hiss.
A waitress stops and offers us the last two drinks on her tray.
Brennan smirks at me as he takes them. At his absent nod, she scurries away. After handing me a glass, he leans down to murmur in my ear again.
“We’re in a hotel. We could book a room,” he suggests.
I sigh and shake my head before sipping the champagne. Brennan kisses my temple and throws back his entire glass in one gulp.
“Ah well, it was worth a try. Let’s get this over with so I can take you home and feast on you.”
I elbow him and say his name in warning.
He sets his empty glass on the cocktail table and grimaces.
“I’ll need it to wash away this shit. That has to be the worst champagne I’ve ever tasted,” he snarls.
I lift my half-empty glass and inspect it.
“I was wondering if it was supposed to be so bitter. Maybe we—”
Brennan leans his full weight on me. I squeak and stagger but regain my balance. My toes pinch in my high heels. After slipping the glass onto the table, I fill my fists with Brennan’s suit coat and look up at his face.
He rights himself but shakes his head. My heart clenches when I meet his glazed eyes.
Heat pulses in my stomach and spreads outward, infecting my organs and lighting a fire in my blood. My tongue and lips tingle as the bitter taste amplifies. Unnatural lust floods my body. Arousal dampens my panties and hardens my nipples.
“Our drinks were spiked,” I say.
He nods. I reach into his pocket and take out his phone.
“Let’s call a driver and—
A wave of need barrels through me.
Brennan’s pulse races in his jugular. His flushed face, quick breaths, and sweaty brow indicate he’s suffering worse than I am.
He drank the whole glass.
Fuck.
I can’t make him vomit in front of all these people.
We don’t have time to go home.
I wave over the nearest waitress and request a room right now. My eyes refuse to focus, but the sweat dripping down Brennan’s Adam’s apple plays in high definition.
I need him. He needs me.
His hand twitches against my side. I bite back a groan, fighting the urge to grab his wrist and move his thick, skilled fingers to my breast. My skirt brushing against my legs sensitizes my entire body. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable Brennan’s cock must be inside the confines of his trousers.
His magnificent cock. Big. Veiny. Tasty.
Lewd thoughts threaten to consume me as we follow the waitress out of the ballroom and into the elevator.
Time distorts. Brennan’s massive, masculine body fills my senses, but despite the need pounding through us, we don’t devolve into horny beasts.
The elevator doors slide open. Concern spears through me as a familiar figure turns the corner at the end of the hall, but Ms. Baker wasn’t invited to the charity ball and we’re almost to a room, so I usher Brennan to follow the waitress.
When she pushes open a room without fiddling with a key card, my hackles rise.
“No. Not this room. We need—”
The room across the hall opens and an older couple emerges. By the woman’s evening gown and the man’s pinstripe suit, they intend to join the charity event.
Before the door closes behind them, I push Brennan across the hall and into their room.
“I’m so sorry. We won’t touch any of your things, and we’ll pay for your stay—and any future stays as well. Please forgive us.”
Although startled at first, the woman recovers and nudges the man with her elbow.
“Let them, Frank. Remember when we—”
The door closes and blocks out the rest of her words.
I twist the deadbolt and flick the privacy latch into place before turning and grabbing Brennan’s face.
He bends, as eager as I, and meets me halfway.
With teeth and tongues clashing, I push him deeper into the room, but he grabs my ass, lifts me off my feet, and pins me against the wall.
I moan and wrap my legs around his waist as I claw at his nape.