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Oh my God, what a fucking bitch.
She reached out to touch him. “I didn’t want—”
“I can’t talk to you right now.” Kent backed away, his fists clenched, looking like he wanted nothing more than to stalk off. But then he stilled, as if remembering where he was. He turned to his brother. “Dane …”
“Go,” Dane said softly.
Kent didn’t need to be told twice.
Jen hurried after him, calling out, “Kent, wait!”
He didn’t wait or respond. He kept striding fast toward the hotel, and she kept on trailing after him.
I blew out a breath and turned to Dane. “Well, that was … heavy.”
He sighed. “Yeah.” He crossed to me and cupped the side of my neck. “Are you okay?”
“That was going to be my question.”
“I’m pissed, but fine. You?”
“Fine. Though my head is spinning.” I rested my hands on his chest. “I’m sorry.”
He frowned. “For what?”
“That you just found out two of your in-laws tried to fuck you over. I’m especially sorry that we couldn’t have found this out before the reception, or even sometime after it.” I bit my lip. “We can leave early, if you want.”
“Leave? Why would I want to leave?”
“Well you can’t be feeling good right now.”
“I’m more pissed than anything else. I’ve never liked Hope, so her betrayal means nothing. Jen … I considered her to be family. I thought she was good for Kent, even if they hadn’t been as tight as they once were. That she so easily risked losing him infuriates me.”
While I was glad that Dane didn’t seem hurt by what either of his sisters-in-law had done, it saddened me that his emotional defenses were so extreme that not even a betrayal of this magnitude pierced them. It was one thing to have thick skin. It was another thing to feel so very little in the face of such duplicity.
Maybe, due to his childhood, he was so used to people trying to hurt him that it didn’t have the same impact it would have on others. For him, it was the norm. Whatever the case … yeah, I was just sad for him.
I leaned into him. “Do you want to go after Kent?”
Dane shook his head. “He likes to be alone when he’s angry. Our father would seek us out and take out his rage on us when in a mood.”
“So Kent does the opposite. He isolates himself.”
“Yes.” Dane brushed my bangs out of my face. “We can leave the reception, if you want. But I don’t want to. Sure, we can let those bitches ruin it and have the last laugh. I’d rather carry on with our night and not give them the power to taint this for us. What about you?”
“I vote for the latter.”
He squeezed the side of my neck. “Good. Then let’s go back inside and enjoy the rest of our reception.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
We stumbled out of the hotel elevator later that night, sipping from each other’s mouths. The mix of alcohol and sexual need swimming through me had my whole system buzzing. I felt warm and tingly and tipsy.
Dane took me by the wrist and led me to our room. Chris and Miley had booked us the honeymoon suite, so it was no surprise to see fresh flowers, champagne on ice, rose petals on the bed, and a tiered-stand of chocolates and strawberries.
Dane hauled me against him. “I spent pretty much the entire day thinking about what I’d do to you when I had you all to myself,” he said, his voice low and vibrating with a need that equaled my own. “Now I finally have you where I want you.”
And I really couldn’t have been more pleased about that.
He splayed his hand on my throat. “I can feel your pulse racing against my thumb.”
I expected him to claim my mouth, but he didn’t. He just stared at it, his face cold, his eyes hot. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I felt the strain in my chest.
Everything seemed to go still and quiet as I waited for him to move. My breathing picked up, and my pulse quickened even more. Anticipation was like a living thing inside me. Just when I thought I might explode, his mouth slammed on mine. That easily, the sexual buzz in my system amplified by a thousand. Hunger flared. Nerve-endings sparked. Chemicals raced. My heart began to pound like crazy.
Needing to touch him, I slipped off his jacket, pulled off his bow tie, and opened the top buttons of his shirt. I slid my hands inside and planted them on his chest, loving the feel of that hard muscle and barely leashed hunger.
He broke the kiss with a nip to my lower lip. “Stay right there.” He moved to stand behind me and then, slowly and leisurely, undid the back of my corset. The material slumped forward, and he wasted no time in slipping his hands down the front of the corset to palm my breasts.
