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“I’ll tell them.”
“Mom… I really am sorry.” Apologies for running had already happened, but I still felt the need to say it. Especially since I wasn’t telling her the whole truth.
She touched my arm again. “I know. And you don’t have to keep saying it. It’s long forgotten. We’re just happy you’re home.”
When she walked away, she wasn’t just my mother. She was Adelaide Allen Caruso, host of the party. She’d always been better at that part of it than me. I could play the game, but I didn’tlovethe game. My family loved it, and despite me not quite matching, they loved me anyway.
I saw Ocean standing near the windows, looking out at her namesake, and chose to be grateful. My family had their faults, and none of us were perfect, but they loved me. Not everyone could say the same.
People were beginning to notice me standing alone, so I started across the room, back to my guys and my wine. Someone turned so quickly I had to duck out of the way not to get hit.
The scent of lemongrass and eucalyptus. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. A smirk I couldn’t forget even though I desperately wanted to. And at his side, a smile sharp as knives.
Beau had found me.
CHAPTER NINE
________
ISOLDE
Beau’s smirk turned into a smug smile. “Hello, Isolde. Good to see you.”
I straightened my spine. “Hello, Beau.”
“You remember Angela?”
I glanced down at the hand she had wrapped around his arm. The diamond on her finger glittered. “Of course.”
“It’ssowonderful to see you again,” she said, the words kind enough. But they weren’t. We weren’t friends, and never had been. Angela had never been a fan of mine while Beau and I were together—in the few times we interacted at all—and now I knew why. I couldn’t even muster the energy to care. But I felt the eyes in the room turning toward us, hungry for a fight. An altercation. Any kind of gossip at all.
A cloud of sugar wrapped around me. Almost frosting. The softness of that first bite and the moan that came after. Hawk’s arms wrapped around my shoulders and chest, just like he’d done in the foyer earlier. His whole body pressed up against my back, offering me both solidity and heat.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss against my neck, drawing his lips up to my ear. “You okay, baby girl?”
The words were soft enough that only the two of us, Beau, and Angela, could hear. It was a fucking good thing Trinity made me get that bra, because goosebumps raced across my entire body, tighteningeverything. I couldn’t breathe deep enough to speak, overwhelmed by scent and sensation. When he kissed my hair I closed my eyes and leaned into it. Not because of Beau, but because it was impossible to do anything else.
Beau cleared his throat, and I felt Hawk grin. “Sorry,” he said to Beau and Angela. “Can’t seem to keep my hands off her.”
Beau stared at the two of us, and the look on his face made me want to smile. I held it back. Barely. He was furious. Though why he thought he had any right to be angry was beyond me.
Releasing me just enough to tuck me into his side, Hawk reached out a hand. “Elliot Diaz. My friends call me Hawk.”
For a long second, Beau stared at the hand like it was an alien thing. Or a fish that had washed up on the beach. Finally, he shook Hawk’s hand. “Beau Jefferson. This is my fiancée, Angela.”
“Good to meet you both,” Hawk said. His fingers drew circles on my hip where his hand rested, andfuckit felt like the entire universe had narrowed to that single spot. I didn’t want the dress between my skin and his fingers. I wanted to feel them on me.
“You’re with him?” Angela asked me. I’d been so distracted by Hawk that I hadn’t noticed the shock on her face.
Hawk looked down at me, drawing me into his gaze. True intensity rested there. Dark fire so deep that I questioned everything. Were they really this good? Because the singular attention was doing…somethingto me, and it was a riptide. Pulling me along so quickly I didn’t have time to swim or breathe. I knew the sensation well.
“She is,” he said softly. “Well, my pack and I. She’s our Omega.”
My stomach tumbled into freefall.
For the briefest second I imagined it being real and pulled back. The vision was too perfect, and it would crack me to want it.
Nope.
