I grabbed my phone to text Tripp, but he beat me to it.
TC: We’re going to Gilded.
It was small, but a fraction of the anxiety making my head swim lessened.
Gilded always made me feel better. I would ask Tripp to use the flogger on me until I was a bubble who couldn’t think, and then I would ask for his help.
TC: Wear extra makeup.
Extra makeup?
Did he see the online comments, too?
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
WE’VE GOT A NAME FOR THE MYSTERY WOMAN, BUT NOT MUCH ELSE. WE’RE NOT GONNA LIE, IT’S PRETTY UNDERWHELMING.
GREER
“You sure you’re okay?”
No.
No, I was not.
I looked at Tripp and answered his question for the dozenth time. “Yeah. Just tired.”
And impatient to get into a room.
“Do you want to go home?” he asked.
I rapidly shook my head. The panic I was working hard to choke down surged to the forefront.
Mistaking my adamant response as fueled by my arousal, his gray eyes heated as he tugged me closer on his lap. His arm wrapped around my waist with his hand positioned right under my breast. I could feel his heat through the thin fabric of my green satin dress.
I wanted to sink into him. I wanted to turn my brain off and let him take control of everything, trusting that he would take care of me.
But I couldn’t.
The peace I usually felt at Gilded was nowhere to be found. My heart rate hadn’t slowed—it also hadn’t stopped, so small victories. My stomach was such a mess, I couldn’t even drink the tequila I’d thought would settle my nerves.
Ordinarily, Tripp was enough to distract me from everything else, but each time I had a second’s reprieve, my fears would push back in to ruin it.
Tripp is going to think I’m using him if I ask for help.
A graze of his thumb across the swell of my breast.
Josh is going to share the video anyway.
Tripp’s free hand spanned my bare thigh.
My drama will blowback on Tripp.
His lips skimmed my neck.
And my connection to him will amplify my father’s case. He might lose his deal. He’ll be more than a brief sound bite that no one pays attention to when people learn his daughter is the same woman seen on the red carpet.
His teeth nipped where my neck met my shoulder.
