Page 74 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Bodyguard

Reynolds scrubbed a hand over his face. “Don’t tell anyone tonight. I don’t want anything to spoil the wedding. None of the girls really hung out with her, but Leo and Joaquin were, er… very close to her.”

By that, he meant she’d been a favorite of theirs to take to a private room in Cayenne and share a few hours of fun with a couple of times a week. They wouldn’t take the news well, I was sure.

“We’ll start interviewing tomorrow,” the sheriff said with a sigh. “I just wanted to brief you tonight, Mr. Mayor.” With that, he glanced at Nia one last time, turned, and walked away.

“That’s a kick in the gut,” Reynolds said.

“It is.”

Reynolds realized everyone was shooting glances our way. He grabbed me by the elbow. “Act normal. Go dance with Jess and act like nothing happened. Don’t tell anyone a word about this.”

I nodded and hurried back over to Jess.

“Was he upset about Nia?” she asked.

“Yeah. We told him he shouldn’t be here, and he took off.”

“That’s strange behavior for someone in law enforcement, don’t you think?”

I shrugged. “They’re people, too. They get jealous, fall in love, and have all the same emotions the rest of us do.”

“True. I guess I just hold them to a higher standard. Especially the sheriff,” she said with a slight frown. “I think Nia should steer clear of him.”

“Maybe.” I whipped her back onto the dance floor trying to distract her from the sheriff’s visit to the wedding. After a couple of dances, I got back to what I’d previously been thinking about. Could I do it? Could I really ask her to marry me?

Suddenly nervous, I leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Could you come with me?”

She looked up at me startled. Then she grinned. “Oh, I know what this is.”

“You do?” How could she tell?

“I remembered, and I wondered when you were going to be ready.”

I was trying to figure out exactly what she was talking about. “I think I’ve been ready since the first week I knew you, to be honest.”

She laughed. “I would have thought it was the first day.”

I cocked my head to look at her better. I couldn’t help but think we were talking about two different things, but I wasn’t sure. “The first day?”

“I mean,” she lowered her voice even though there was no way anyone could hear her, “we kind of did that already in the first ten minutes I knew you.”

Now my eyebrows shot up. I was talking about proposing… she wasnot. I realized now that she was thinking back to when I told her I wanted to have sex with her in public. Somewhere we could be caught in the act but most likely wouldn’t be.

I took her hand and motioned for her to follow me.

“Where are we going?” she giggled a little, and I knew she’d had a couple of glasses of champagne. She had a very low tolerance, so I wasn’t surprised she was a little tipsy.

“I think I saw a place where we could be somewhat private.”

“But not too private, right? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Damn. She was making me hard. We walked down the beach a little and behind some large clumps of pampas grass. Some huge palm trees were blocking the view from the path that wound along the beachfront where the Salazars had built houses for family members and friends. Nothing around the area was open to the public, and there was a gated entry. The only people who could stumble upon us would be wedding guests.

“This doesn’t really feel very public,” Jess said. “Did you lose your nerve?”

“Not at all. Maybe we’ll be more out in the open next time,” I said as I laid down a quilted blanket for us to lay on. Madeline had a designated area for couples to sit and look at the stars, and she’d set out several blankets so they wouldn’t get too sandy in the process. I’d stolen one for our nefarious purposes.

“I like this dress,” I said as I unzipped the back, helped her out of it and laid her down. I looked at her for a while in her sexy lingerie and heels. “God, you look amazing.”