Chapter Eighteen
Jo
E verything is going perfectly.
I’ve set up my basket for the silent auction, and I’ve spent an hour sprinkling hints to potential donors to bid on a private tour with the bears.
I broke the news of my plan to Lochlan as soon as we arrived here, and he was furious.
Of course, I expected it.
He didn’t tell me to take it off the table, but he did grumble something and storm off.
I know where the tables are that I reserved for Second Chance Sanctuary, so he won’t be far, but I haven’t been brave enough to go apologize.
He already can’t stand to be near me half the time.
As I round a table to go talk to another potential bidder, I see my parents and freeze.
I told them I wasn’t available tonight because I hoped this event would be big enough not to be seen.
My brother is behind them, and I watch his eyes squint as he locks in on me.
He leans in to talk to his campaign manager, Austin, but I turn and book it the other direction.
I’m halfway across the room when I hear his voice behind me.
“JoAnna.”
“Not today, Austin.” He’s been my brother’s best friend for years, and I haven’t been able to stand him for an equal amount of time.
“Your brother and parents expect you to join them,” he says, still following behind me as my legs move on autopilot, trying to get away.
“I’m not able to join them. I’m working.”
“Working? Did you decide to become a cocktail waitress?” He snorts at his own crude joke.
As if making fun of the working class is hilarious.
“I work for Second Chance Sanctuary.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a black bear rescue.” I stop walking, turning on him so he’s forced to stop, too.
“Now, if you will excuse me.”
“It’s required that you be seen with your family.” His tall, lanky figure is dressed in a suit worth more than most people’s entire wardrobe, and it makes him even more off-putting because of it.
“I don’t care. Have a nice night,” I dismiss him, turning to walk away.
I thought he got the hint, but as I reach the table where the guys are sitting, he speaks again.
“JoAnna, this is not negotiable,” he states harshly, just as I lock eyes with Lochlan.
How embarrassing that I have to be scolded by one man in front of another man who’s probably waiting patiently to scold me as well.
I spin on my heels to face him.
“I’m sitting at the table I reserved for Second Chance Sanctuary. My family is on their own.”
He looks over my shoulder and visibly shows his disgust at my friends.
They’re all in their Sunday best, and I want to punch Austin in the face for looking down on them.
“These people are bad for Conrad’s image.”
I can feel Lochlan’s attention locked in behind me like a solar wave, fueling me.
“I don’t care about his image!” I protest loudly, earning a couple of nosy looks in my direction.
Hayes is watching us from his seat, throwing glances between the man in front of me and the man behind me, whom I can’t see, but I’m sure is scowling because I’ve dragged more of my drama into his hemisphere.
“JoAnna, this is ridiculous.” Austin’s freckled face is growing red with frustration.
“Come on,” he demands, grabbing my elbow.
The air shifts as four grown men stand up from the table.
I jerk my arm out of his grip, absorbing the energy from the people on my side.
“I said, I’m sitting here.”
“There isn’t even an available seat,” he mutters, trying to save himself from the wrath of the real men behind me.
Without bothering to look, my hand finds the top of Lochlan’s shoulder, and with absolutely no strength and the slightest pressure from my palm, the giant of a man lowers to his seat.
“I don’t need a chair.” One step and I’m between his legs, planting my ass on his muscular thigh.
What the hell am I doing?
It doesn’t matter.
I have to commit.
I wrap my arm around the back of his neck and lean into his hard chest, attempting to look as comfortable as I can during this awkward situation.
Austin’s stare drills into the back of my head as I keep my attention focused on Curtis and Seiver’s wide eyes across the table.
They follow my queue, though, and return to their seats, not uttering a word about how strange it is for me to sit on my boss’s lap.
Hayes sits next, and I hope that means the coast is clear.
“Is he gone?” I whisper, not daring to look at Lochlan directly.
Our heads are so close, though, he has to know I’m talking to him, but he’s painfully still.
“He’s gone,” Hayes answers instead from beside me, and I breathe a sigh of relief, leaning further into Lochlan unintentionally.
He’s granite beneath me, and I’ve never felt more foolish.
He’s made it clear so many times that he hates my shenanigans.
He didn’t want to come to these events in the first place, but I’m making a mockery of myself when I’m supposed to be helping the sanctuary.
I should move before he tosses me off, but his palm is so warm through the fabric of my dress, I can almost imagine what it would feel like to have his bare skin against mine.
The heat of that thought rises to my cheeks and the spot between my thighs that I try to ignore.
I’m sitting on my boss’s lap, and all I can think about is the hard muscles along his back and the strength of his arm wrapped around my waist.
I’m close enough to distinguish the smell of his soap from the shaving cream he uses.
And that he’s drinking beer tonight.
“I’m sorry, I’ll move, I’m probably crushing your leg.” I brace myself to stand but my butt barely lifts an inch before I’m forced back down.
Lochlan’s big hand cups my hip, firmly keeping me in place.
“You’re fine right here.” His low, gravelly voice vibrates across my skin.
I look at him curiously, but his gaze is focused somewhere across the room, as a speech starts.
It’s inappropriate to be sitting on his lap, but I feel trapped.
If I try to stand up now, people will take notice because everyone else is seated.
Finding and pulling up my own chair is out of the question.
So, I sit.
And, when I shift to adjust my seat against his firm quad, he pulls me a fraction of an inch closer, his hand drifting the same distance down my dress towards the exposed skin of my thigh.
He probably doesn’t even realize he did it, and I’m overanalyzing every single point of contact.
My knuckles have turned white clutching the small handbag in my lap.
The person speaking on stage finishes, and the next speaker replaces them, but I have no idea what’s being said.
My fingers twitch, the tips barely brushing against the skin above his shirt collar before returning to the safety of his shirt, and at that exact moment, his fingertips graze the hem of my maroon dress, barely touching my skin.
Did he do that on purpose?
I’m a woman in STEM…
I value you a good experiment of cause and effect…
I force my fingers to inch towards his neck again, fighting against my nerves to prove my theory by dragging my nails along the edge of his collar.
My knuckles glide across his skin, and I don’t breathe, waiting for his reaction.
It’s only a moment before his hand inches further down my lap and the pads of his fingers dig into my skin.
The pounding in my ears is deafening as I flatten my palm against the back of his neck, cupping his warm skin.
The veins on the back of his hand flex as he covers the space of my exposed thigh entirely with his hand.
My heart threatens to burst from my chest as my gaze shifts to his face, but his unfocused eyes are still lost across the banquet hall.
His stone-cold expression stays averted as I squeeze the back of his neck, but I know he’s with me because, without hesitation, his fingers dig into my thigh, gripping it with desperation.
Everyone else in the room disappears until all I can see is him.
Someone tries to get my attention, but I can’t stop looking at him.
His hooded eyes turn to me, finding my lips first before moving gradually upward.
From an outward perspective, it would appear that he just turned his attention to me, but I know he’s been focused on me this entire time.
He’s as consumed by this as I am.
He doesn’t say a word as he raises two fingers, signaling something to someone out of my line of sight.
I’m afraid that if I look away from him, he’ll disappear, and so will this moment.
The endorphins coursing through my veins are making me high.
I’ve never been high, but I imagine this is what it feels like.
I’m floating on a cloud of ecstasy, embraced in a warm hug as my skin tingles from my scalp to the tips of my toes.
The fire deep in my belly is burning me from the inside out.
You can probably see the flush of my cheeks through my makeup, but I don’t care.
I don’t care what anyone in this room says about me.
I could be getting cross looks from every direction, but for the first time in my life, I couldn’t care less what anyone else thinks.
Only what he thinks.
Something is set down on the table beside us, and I hear the crack of a can opening before he lifts it to my bottom lip.
“Drink,” he orders, watching my mouth as he waits for me to obey.
My lips part a fraction, and the icy aluminum meets my mouth in a kiss, making my eyes flutter closed when he tips it into my mouth.
The crisp liquid coats my tongue as the cold beer travels down the back of my throat and into my stomach.
When my eyes blink open, the can is gone, but his mouth is directly in front of me.
A shiver zips down my spine, and his arm hugs me tighter.
“Cold, darlin’?” He rumbles, sending warmth to my very core.
“No.”
His hand twitches against my thigh again, gripping me harder, and I become overly aware of how damp my panties are.
If he keeps touching me, he’ll feel how turned on I am through his damn jeans.
But I can’t think straight enough to care.
Instead, I do something I’ve been imagining since our first event when he trimmed his hair, and twine my fingers into the loose curls at the nape of his neck, letting my nails scratch the base of his scalp.
His nostrils flare, and his eyes squeeze shut briefly as his whole body inhales roughly, letting the breath out just the same.
Then his fingers flex, inching closer to the soft flesh between my thighs .
Entering dangerous territory.
Nearing the line of public indecency.
And, outright scandalous.
But, every fiber of my being that has always done the right thing, played by the rules, and been a well-behaved girl wants him to go further.
I want to know what it feels like to have his rough, callused hands caress the skin where no one has been before…
I want him to touch me.
My knees spread on their own command, widening the gap between my thighs mere millimeters…
His entire body goes rigid.
Dousing me with a bucket of ice water.
What the hell am I doing?
The noise in the room returns at full volume, screaming at me, reminding me that I am, in fact, in a room full of some of the most influential people in the state.
I’m sitting on my boss’ lap at a charity auction ready to whore myself out for a glimmer of pleasure.
I’m a disgrace.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I utter, jumping up from his lap, nearly taking the tablecloth with me.
“Jo,” he starts, but I’m already running away.
Running and making an absolute spectacle of myself.
The double doors break apart as I push through them, sucking in lungfuls of the humid night air.
“Jo!” Lochlan shouts after me as my feet hit the parking lot.
I start running again.
“Jo! Stop, dammit.” He wraps an arm around my waist, lifting me clear off the ground and forcing a squeal from my throat .
“No, please let me go,” I cry woefully.
He sets me down but doesn’t release my waist.
I’m too mentally weak to stop myself from slumping against his hard chest.
“Please don’t say anything, Lochlan. I’m embarrassed, let’s just forget it happened and move on.”
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I need to apologize.”
“No.”
“Yes, dammit. I know better.” He spins me so I’m facing him.
“You’re a beautiful woman,” he opens his mouth to say something else, then shuts it and shakes his head to clear it.
“I forgot for a moment who I was.”
“Who you are?”
“Your boss and a man with a terrible reputation. I’m a black hole that will ruin you if you get too close.”
“I don’t believe that,” I whisper.
“You have to.”
I shake my head, dismissing him.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I initiated what happened in there, and then I got overwhelmed, I panicked.”
“You tried to stand up, and I didn’t let you. I made you uncomfortable, and it’s my fault.”
“No, God, Lochlan!” I screech into my hands.
“I didn’t want to stand up.” The silence is pungent as I look up at him.
He’s looking at me with so much confusion.
He doesn’t know what to say to stop the train wreck happening in front of him.
“I need to leave. I need to go.” I fumble around in my tiny clutch, trying to yank my keys from the cramped space as I approach my car .
He’s right behind me, though, snatching them from my hand as soon as they’re out.
“You’re upset. I’ll drive you home.”
“You drove here with them.” I motion to the building where the guys still are, and that sends a new wave of dread through me.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe they just witnessed that.”
“No one cares. They won’t say a word about it. I’ll make sure they don’t,” he assures me, but it doesn’t matter.
The embarrassment is still hot on my skin.
I’ve been programmed for too long to believe my behavior was egregious.
“What about the truck keys? They’ll need them,” I suggest as a last-ditch effort to get him to leave me alone.
He takes the keys out of his pocket and tosses them into the floorboard of the truck parked next to my car.
“They’ll figure it out.”