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The horrified expression Ace wore was too much for her to take. The noise of the metal tray hitting the ground and glass shattering had e
very person in the room going silent, looking their way.
“I . . . I don’t know why he handed this to me,” Ace grumbled.
“Me either,” Dakota said, trying desperately to hold in her laughter.
“What in the hell was he doing with it?” he said, looking less embarrassed and more irritated.
“Mr. Armstrong, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how this happened,” a man said as he pulled out a towel and handed it to Ace.
“It’s no problem,” Ace mumbled. The man continued apologizing, leaving them to believe he must be the manager of the hotel or the head caterer. He was probably worried he was going to get into trouble.
“It’s not a problem, Jean,” Sherman said as he patted the man’s back. “I spilled a glass of bourbon on one of your waitstaff and insisted on taking the tray from her while she went and changed. I didn’t give her a choice. Then Nick was calling me over for a picture, so I handed the tray off to Ace. My nephew obviously wasn’t coordinated enough to handle it.”
Ace sent a scowl his uncle’s way before he looked at Jean. “It’s really okay. I’m fine, we’re all fine. The floors, on the other hand, have gotten slightly abused.”
“I already have janitorial on their way to clean up the mess,” Jean assured them.
“See, no harm done,” Sherman said, wrapping an arm around Jean’s shoulder and dragging him away as he continued mumbling apologies.
When they were a safe distance away, Dakota wasn’t able to hold it back any longer. She smiled first, her throat hurting with her attempts at keeping the laughter locked up inside, but when Ace sent her a knowing glance, she lost it.
Laughter spilled from her, and the glare he sent her way only made it that much worse. He had a choice to make in the next few seconds, and it would tell her a lot about his character. He could either join in with her and appreciate the humor of the situation, or he could stomp off to places unknown feeling sorry for himself. It would tell her if she would be able to make the slightest difference in this broken man’s life or not.
The cleaning crew arrived, and the two of them scooted over to allow them to clean up the mess. Dakota was laughing too hard to offer to help. Besides, she didn’t think she’d be able to bend in the tight dress she was wearing.
“Looks like you’ve decided to make another impression at this wedding too,” Maverick said as he patted Ace on the shoulder.
“Does he make a habit of dropping trays?” Dakota asked.
“Nope. At Coop’s wedding, he came in and . . . um, did some things, then decided to deck Nick. Seeing as this is Nick’s wedding, hopefully he’ll just stick with dropping trays,” Mav said, chuckling at his own humor, not looking the least bit concerned that one of his brothers had been punching his other brother who knew how long ago.
“Well, maybe we should try to find you a new shirt,” she began, looking down his lean body, “and possibly some pants.”
Suddenly, he smiled as he sent her a wink that had her cheeks heating. Damn, he had too much of an impact on her. She might have to be a little bit careful in the man’s presence.
“You can dress me if you want, darling,” he told her.
“Here’s my key. I have clothes in my room,” Mav said with a snicker before he disappeared. There was no way Dakota thought it was a good idea to go to a hotel room with Ace.
“I’ve got the key. I’ll take you up on that offer,” Ace told her.
She hesitated before speaking. “I think you can find the room on your own,” she said, wishing she hadn’t offered her help.
“You took part in doing this to me. I think you need to help fix it,” he assured her, grabbing her arm and moving her through the throng of people. The crowd had lost interest in the situation and had gone back to celebrating Nick and Chloe’s wedded bliss.
Dakota was, for once, oddly quiet as the two of them reached the elevators and Ace pushed the button for the top floor. Of course, the room had to be on the top of the thirty-story hotel. That would put her in the small box with Ace for that much longer. Normally, she wasn’t so nervous about such silly things.
But as the doors closed the two of them inside, she was hoping it would stop along the way so that someone would join them. She certainly wasn’t going to be able to delve into Ace’s brain and possibly bring out his love of living if she couldn’t even manage to have a neutral conversation with him. She scolded herself before flashing him a bright smile.
“Are you glad to be home?” she asked.
His body stiffened as if he wanted to reject her question, but she was impressed when she noticed how he forced himself to relax and smile back at her.
“So far it’s been incredibly . . . eventful,” he said.
“Life is boring when we aren’t stimulated,” she assured him.
