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And was damned grateful when she only shot him a snotty look and didn’t take a swipe at him. He guided her from the room, his hand sliding from the gentle arch of the small of her back to the curve of her hip. He felt her catch her breath. She slanted him a sideways glance but didn’t slow down. Dex was glad. He knew he should be more careful, but he just didn’t give a damn anymore. Because as good as slapping a sign on her back, he knew Brad caught his message.
Zoe was his.
ZOE NEEDED A LIFE preserver. Something to keep her safe while she rode the waves of the leftover undercurrents buffeting through the room.
She arched a brow in question, but Dex ignored her. Instead, he just jerked his chin toward the door, indicating that he was leaving and if she wanted to go, she’d better keep her ass up.She wanted to tell him to hang on. To insist he fill her in on the scene she’d walked in on. Why were he and Brad going nose to nose? What was with the testosterone overload? She’d felt like a meaty bone in there, standing between two growling dogs. And here she was, waltzing out with apparently the biggest dog of the two. Since the other dog was most likely Gandalf, she really should have stood her ground and waited to talk to Brad. But Dex had bared his macho teeth, laid his hand on her and she’d just sort of melted.
She should be worrying about her priorities here, but all she cared about was when the hell had Dex turned all sexy and powerful?
“What’s my grandma taking care of?” Dex asked, sounding as though he didn’t really care but had to say something to break the ice.
“She’s searching for wedding tiara patterns to bead my headpiece,” Zoe said casually, giving him a bland look. Dex almost tripped over his feet, his gaze flying to her face so fast his eyeballs probably had whiplash. She took a deep, slightly evil sort of pleasure in his reaction.
“You’re getting married?” His tone was a combination of shock and protest. Zoe smiled serenely and kept walking.
Finally getting his feet back under him, Dex hurried to catch up with her halfway across the lobby.
“Why is my grandmother beading you a headpiece?” he asked, laying his hand on her arm to stop her forward momentum. Zoe’s breath stuck in her throat at his touch. A fission of energy zinged up her arm, tingled down her body and curled her toes.
“It was so cool to see her again,” Zoe said, sidestepping his question. “She’s really looking great.”
Something niggled in the back of her mind as her gaze traced the lines of his jaw and the full temptation of his mouth.
What was wrong with her? She was turning into a total trampy get-around girl. All she could think about, looking at Dex, was how it’d feel to have that gorgeous mouth on her body, just as she’d had the masked hunk’s on her last night. Was it the altitude that had her wanting to do sexy times with every man she saw here? She recalled the jerk brigade and Brad, looking like a puffed-up kid who’d been told he was losing his favorite toy. At least she wasn’t getting hot and bothered over every guy. Just her ex-best friend and a costumed stranger.
A costumed stranger who’d driven her to a panting orgasm with his wicked tongue play the night before. Conflict knotted in Zoe’s stomach. She should be focusing on him, shouldn’t she? Instead of her best friend. A guy who was sweet and upright and, well, long-term.
Finally, her usual mantra surfaced. She might be at this reunion for the duration to help her brother. But that’s as long as her attention span lasted. When in doubt, believe in the short-term. Nothing lasted. She’d seen that over and over in life. So depending on anyone or anything other than herself was crazy. Which meant she owed it to her old friend to bury her lust instead of flirting her way to a promise she wouldn’t keep. Which really sucked.
“Zoe?” Dex placed a hand on her arm, pulling them both to a stop.
“Huh?”
Dex frowned, his brilliant turquoise eyes dark with impatience. “Who are you marrying?”
Should she laugh or cry at the irony of talking marriage with the sweetest guy she’d ever had the hots for when that exact topic made him completely off-limits? If she couldn’t stick it out with a job because she was sure once people got to know her, really know her, they’d bail, how impossible did that make a forever commitment? She’d never really cared. Until now. Despite the sadness in her chest, her lips twitched at the look on Dex’s face.
“You, apparently.”
She used his shock to pull free and continue her way across the lobby. As she expected, he caught up with her at the doors to the garden.
“Care to share the details?” he asked in a matter-of-fact tone that did nothing to hide his amused shock. He pushed the door open for her. Zoe had to brush against his body to get through what seemed to be a deliberately narrow opening. “I don’t recall the proposal.”
