Chapter 22
Savvy
Glimmering lights dance over the mingling guests filling the ballroom.
Tables decorated with long vases brimming with hanging flowers and cream linens surround the dance floor.
A quartet plays from a platform to the side of a long stage that will seat six, along with a podium.
More flowers pour out of hand-painted clay pots along the front of the stage.
I’m admiring the elaborate chandelier hanging over the dance floor when Gabriel slips his hand across my back, pulling me into him.
“You need to eat something.” He lifts a plate overloaded with cocktail shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, and a few other things I don’t recognize. “Mrs. Neville said you haven’t eaten all day.”
I run a hand over my grumbling stomach. The dress Cassie talked me into buying is beautiful. A sleek black dress with a deep neckline in both the front and back. It hugs my curves exactly where it should, but it shows every little imperfection. One teaspoon of too much salt and I might pop a seam.
“Do you think there will ever come a day when you don’t have your staff spying on me and reporting back to you?” I slide a piece of shrimp from the plate.
His eyes wander to my mouth as I bite the shrimp from the tail.
“Or when you don’t turn everything I do into some sexual fantasy in your head?” I drop the shrimp tail onto the plate he’s still thrusting at me.
“My staff doesn’t report back to me about you. I’m positive you do things I should know about when I’m not around, but they seem to like you more than they fear me these days.”
He picks up another shrimp and brings it to my lips, holding onto the tail as I take a bite.
“As for the other thing, if that ever happens, have Roman take me out back and shoot me.” He drops the shrimp tail back on the plate. “Eat something else. Something with actual fat.”
Feeling eyes on us, I glance over as a gorgeous blonde in a sapphire cocktail dress and a dark-haired man in a tailored suit strolls over, both smiling at Gabriel like old friends.
“Did you just call this beautiful woman fat?” she asks, her tone teasingly scandalized.
“Gabriel is a lot of things, but blind is not one of them,” her companion chuckles.
Gabriel straightens as he turns to our new arrivals. Gone is the playfulness from a moment ago, and the stiff-spined businessman has taken over.
I’ve seen him dominate a room, but this is different. With his men, it’s an easy authority. Here he wears a mask. His back is ramrod straight, and the muscles in his neck are tight. It’s like he’s trying to fit himself into a costume that doesn’t fit quite right.
“I wasn’t sure we’d see you tonight. I’m glad you came out.” The man shakes Gabriel’s hand, then turns toward me. “And I didn’t think I’d ever see the day you brought such a lovely woman with you.”
Gabriel places a protective hand on my back, gently easing me further into his side as he makes introductions.
A city alderman, Robert Ackerson and his wife, Julia.
“It is so nice to meet you,” Julia squeezes my hand tightly with a bright smile. “Gabriel never brings anyone to these things. He’s usually all business then hightails it out before he can have any fun.”
“Didn’t he tell you?” I deadpan. “Gabriel is allergic to fun. He breaks out in this hideous rash all over his neck the second he starts laughing.”
Julia bursts into a laugh, grabbing hold of her husband’s arm as he joins in with a chuckle. When I check Gabriel’s expression from my sideview, the corner of his mouth has kicked up.
“Oh, she’s fun.” Julia points a freshly manicured finger at Gabriel. “Have you been seeing each other long?”
I freeze. It’s on the tip of my tongue to explain we aren’t together in that way, but Gabriel cuts in first.
“It feels like forever.” He glides his hand down my back, just past the line of appropriate placement and pats my ass. A warning or a promise, I’m not sure, but I decide to play it safe and let him continue.
“Well, maybe it could be,” Julia says with a playful wink while glancing down at my left hand.
I’m about to shut down that line of thought, but Robert beats me to it.
“I’m sorry to do it, but I have to pull you away if you’ll let me. Just a quick word. We don’t need to bore the ladies with business.”
“Of course.” Gabriel leans down and presses a kiss to my ear. “Behave,” he warns with another pat to my ass.
There is no way someone hasn’t seen him. I grit my teeth, promising myself if I don’t burst into flames right here in the middle of the city’s elite, I will find a way to punish him.
Maybe I should use his belt to tie him to the bed and drag him just to the point of orgasm only to deny him. Over and over again, until I’m tired of watching him squirm.
A new heat builds in my body. Great, now I’m being just as perverse as him. It’s official, he has completely ruined me.
As soon as Gabriel is no longer at my side, Julie takes his place.
“These things are torturously boring,” she says with a tight smile. “I’d rather be home in my sweatpants with a good book, but Robert has to make an appearance. Do whatever he’s doing with all these men he takes into the corner for private conversations.”
Her focus is on her husband and Gabriel as they walk through the French doors out onto the balcony.
“Gabriel is building a shipping hub; they’re probably talking about construction and zoning.” I have no idea what I’m saying, but I’ve heard Gabriel mention those specific topics whenever he talks about the hub.
She eyes me humorously. “I may not know exactly what my husband does with men like Gabriel, but I know they aren’t talking about zoning.”
“Men like Gabriel?” There’s no judgment in her tone, but there’s not the same level of respect she was playing at earlier.
“You don’t have to pretend. It’s well-known what he does when eyes aren’t on him.
Everyone pretends to be ignorant of it because he makes the city an insane amount of money, but no one’s fooled.
” She lets out a little sigh. “And to be honest, there isn’t a man in this room that doesn’t both fear him and wish to be him. ”
“He can be scary,” I say, catching a glimpse of him through the windows. He’s too far away to make out his expression, but just seeing his profile is enough to set my nerves at ease.
I can’t remember the last time anyone had that effect on me. Or if at all.
Julia gently nudges me with a shoulder. “There’s also not a woman in this room that doesn’t wish they were you right now.”
“Me?” Looking around, I realize how many sets of eyes are on us. Heat rises up my chest.
“I won’t pretend to know Gabriel past our social circles, but I will say this. You are the first woman he’s brought to any social event as long as I’ve known him. And I’m talking years.”
I swallow past the ball growing in my throat. Why would he bring me here? To show me off as some sort of toy?
His gaze catches mine through the windows. A smile touches his lips before he’s pulled into another conversation. He’s not a man who plays such games.
“And don’t give any attention to any woman in here who tries to wiggle her way between the two of you. I’ve seen plenty of highly skilled women try, and not a single one has turned his head.”
“I won’t lie; you’re scaring me a little.” I force a smile, like I’m half joking. My heart might actually beat itself right out of my chest and land at our feet, though.
She touches my arm gently. “I don’t think you have anything to be afraid of with him. The way he looks at you is enough to set the room on fire.”
“We haven’t known each other for very long, I think you might be getting the wrong impression.”
She glances toward the doors, where Gabriel is marching his way back to us while her own husband has wandered away toward the bar.
“I think I have exactly the right impression.” She pauses a beat. “It looks like dinner’s going to start. I better get Robert and drag him to our seats.”
She gives a parting nod to Gabriel when he reaches us.
“She said dinner’s coming out,” I say.
“Good. You still didn’t eat anything.” He eyes the plate he left me, still brimming with appetizers.
“I will survive not eating one day, Gabriel.” I hand off the dish to a waiter making his way around collecting discarded glasses and dishes.
“The way you say that makes it sound like you’ve done it before.” He pinches his lips together.
“It was a long time ago, but there were a few times I went a day or two without something to eat.” I touch his arm when he looks ready to battle someone. I’m not sure he cares who, just so long as he can put his fist into someone.
And it’s because one time, years ago, I wasn’t taken care of. An uncomfortable warmth spreads across my body.
“Here you are.” Roman approaches us, Lucian on his heels. “They’re sitting; we should sit.”
Gabriel bites back whatever he was going to say about my past, and links our fingers, leading us to a table near the exit.
After we’re in our seats the courses begin coming out.
Roman and Lucian keep up the conversation through the meal, talking with the other couples at our table.
One of the wives keeps eyeing Gabriel, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
He’s too busy policing my plate.
“I can’t eat anymore, Gabriel.” I groan into his ear when he leans over me to point at the potatoes left on my plate. “I’ll bust right out of this dress.”
A flicker of a smile touches his mouth when he looks at me.
“I should be so lucky,” he says, and kisses my cheek.
“What is that sound?” Lucian asks on my left. I pause to listen and realize it’s my phone.
“Sorry! I forgot to turn the notifications off.” I dig it out from my purse—newly purchased to match this insanely priced dress Cassie talked me into buying for tonight.
“Is something wrong?” Gabriel asks.
“No.” I shake my head and drop the phone back in the clutch. “Just Cassie letting me know she’s home and starting to unpack.”
Lucian stiffens beside me, checking his watch. “She’s just now getting there? She should have been there hours ago.”
He has a similar look that Gabriel gets when he’s starting to get worked up about something trivial.
“She probably did and is just getting around to texting. She’s fine, Lucian.” I assure him, but he’s already crumpling up his napkin.
“I’ll be back,” he mutters, throwing the napkin on his plate and stalking away.
Gabriel shrugs it off and answers the man sitting on his right side. Roman is talking with the couple beside him, and I’m stuck in the middle thinking about what Julia had said. Gabriel reaches into my lap, picking up my hand and squeezing it while he continues his conversation.
There’s no logical reason, but the small touch is enough to soothe my nerves. But with Gabriel, I’m learning logic doesn’t get much play time.
After the dessert is swept away, and Gabriel is done glowering at me for not touching the ice cream, he gets up from the table and orders me to dance with him.
The wife who’s been eyeing him all night frowns.
“You don’t seem like the dancing type,” I say to him once we’re on the increasingly crowded dance floor.
“I’m not. But I wanted to get you alone, and I can’t leave yet.”
“Why not?” I freeze when I step on his foot. “Shit, sorry.”
He ignores my apology and turns us in another direction.
“We have a meeting with an important man here tonight.”
“More important than you?” I gasp, pressing my hand to my chest. My attempt at a joke is ruined when I step on his toes again. He doesn’t even wince, just keeps right on dancing.
“He has power in areas that I don’t,” he clarifies.
“How do you do it?” I ask a few moments later when the song has changed.
“Do what?”
“How do you keep up with both sides of your…business? And doesn’t it scare you, playing both sides? Wouldn’t it be safer just to keep your logistics corporation? I mean you said it was worth two billion, right?”
Pressing his hand into my back, he brings me closer to him.
“It’s a drop in the bucket of what I have spread out through the world in offshore accounts. My other work is more lucrative by far. The sale Lucian made this afternoon before coming here tonight is double what Valenti Logistics is worth. And that’s only one deal.”
My jaw drops. I’m surprised we haven’t tripped over it.
“I can’t even comprehend that kind of money.
” The enormous house, the perfectly tailored clothing he wears, the casualness of priceless items, all of it has seemed like something I’ve been witnessing from the outside until now.
The price of this gorgeous dress and the shoes, and the bag, and the jewelry made my stomach hurt when I swiped his black card yesterday, but to him it was no different than buying a happy meal.
“You’ll get used to it.” He hugs me tighter to him.
“But still, it only takes one person to turn on you to make it all go away.”
“That’s Roman’s job. He makes sure we are protected from those threats. It’s also why coming to these things is important. Keeps us in the public eye as a legitimate business family.”
“I don’t think everyone is buying it.” I smirk.
“No, but they know better than to say out loud what they’re thinking.” He spins us and my feet leave the floor for a brief second before he puts me back on the dance floor.
And I step on his foot again.
“Sorry.” I wince on his behalf. These heels are no joke; I could probably break a toe if I’m not careful.
“We’ll get you dance lessons before—” he trails off, his eyes meeting something over my shoulder that grabs his full attention.
“What’s wrong; what is it?” I ask as he releases me, and I turn to see what he’s looking at.
Roman stands at the entrance of the ballroom, a fierceness on his face that I haven’t seen before.
“I’ll be right back.” Gabriel leaves me on the dance floor, stalking through everyone milling around with their after-dinner drinks. If he wasn’t the height of a giraffe I might lose him among the partygoers.
After nearly getting stepped on by the fellow dancers, I move to the edge of the floor, still watching as Gabriel and Roman talk. A moment later, they slip out of the ballroom and into the hallway, so I make my way to our table.
Whatever is going on, it’s not good.
I take the opportunity to check my phone again, thinking to ask Cassie how Lucian knew what time she was leaving this morning. But when I open my phone, there’s a litany of messages from Cassie.
All of them about Tony.
After I read the last one, I look up to find Gabriel storming toward me. Ice claws its way down my spine.
“Gabriel—” A shake of his head cuts me off.
“Roman is taking you home. Go with him.”
“Gabriel, wait, I need to talk to you first.”
Without a look or another word, he storms off in the same direction he came. Roman stands behind him, waiting for me.