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CHAPTER SEVEN
Dakota was off balance as she walked back into the room filled with hundreds of people all laughing and drinking and having a great time. They had no idea what had just taken place on the highest floor of the hotel, but Da
kota felt as if it was written all over her cheeks.
She was flushed and hot, and her body was feeling things she hadn’t imagined ever being able to feel. She’d barely been able to keep it together as Ace’s hands had roamed across her body, as his mouth had masterfully worked her lips. Never before had she been as turned on as she’d been with that man worshipping her body.
Dakota was used to men giving her attention. She was a flirt, was confident in herself, and felt as if she had nothing to prove. But being with Ace was like being on another planet. She had never felt such an immediate and intense attraction to another person.
It might be foolish of her to make the man her pet project. But she’d already made a decision, and she wasn’t one to turn away from a choice she’d made. It would be weakness on her part if she tried to back down now, and there was no way she was going to allow that to happen.
“Where have you been, young lady?”
Dakota jumped guiltily as she looked at Sherman, who was grinning at her in such a knowing way that she was afraid he knew exactly what she’d been up to with his nephew. Why she felt as if she’d done something wrong, she wasn’t sure.
“I was helping Ace,” she said, her voice unusually subdued.
“Good, that boy needs some help. He’s been gone from this family for a very long time. We’re grateful he’s back home,” Sherman said.
“Yes, your entire family is back where they belong.” Dakota turned to find a giant of a man standing on her other side, making her feel completely dwarfed.
“Dakota, meet my good friend Joseph Anderson,” Sherman said.
Dakota looked back and forth between the two men, both of them larger than life. She smiled, feeling completely at home in their presence. They reminded her of her own family. She had a feeling they would fit right in with her rowdy group.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Joseph,” she said. He surprised her when he gave her a hug, taking her breath away.
“The same to you, darling,” Joseph said. “So, you’re taking care of our little Ace, are you?”
“I have a way with lost souls,” she told Joseph before she looked at Sherman, not sharing that she wanted to pick Ace’s brain. “And even though Ace has been gone for a while, I also think he’s right where he wants to be.”
“From the moment I met you, young lady, I knew you were going to be good for Ace,” Sherman said. She was growing a little suspicious of the light in his youthful eyes.
“Don’t be getting any ideas,” she said as she scanned the room. “I’m not looking to walk down any aisles.”
“Ah, the heart wants what it wants,” Joseph told her. She again looked back and forth between the two men.
“And sometimes the soul just needs a pick-me-up,” she said, hoping she was stopping these two men in their tracks. She didn’t want someone trying to match-make her.
“Sometimes that is one and the same,” Sherman said.
Dakota couldn’t help but laugh. These men were certainly forces to be reckoned with. Dakota appreciated so much more what her best friend had gone through while working with this family. They were intimidating, and Chloe had been so lost for such a long time. Sometimes a girl needed her best friend, and sometimes she needed a family who held open their arms.
“I’m so happy Chloe has all of you now,” she said, emotion clogging her throat.
“We are the ones happy she’s a part of our lives,” Sherman assured her.
“Did I marry the wrong man?” Chloe asked as she walked up to the group and hugged first Sherman and then Joseph.
“Of course not,” Sherman said with a smile.
“Good. ’Cause you, my sweet new uncle, are my favorite family member,” Chloe told Sherman.
“Ah, you are good for this old man’s soul,” Sherman told her.
Chloe laughed with true joy, something that made Dakota incredibly pleased to hear. Her friend had laughed far too little in her traumatized years with an abusive father and neglectful mother.
“And you are good for this once-broken soul,” Chloe told him.
