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So why was he continuing to listen to her phone call instead of making his own?
“I’m just worried about you,” Victoria went on. “If you’re hurting, you need to make sure you ease back. Boinking blond triplets does not qualify as relaxation.” Her laughter made Cory smile in spite of the erection from hell he was currently sporting. “Enough. TMI, dude. I’m serious. You need to take care of yourself. I need my big brother strong and healthy.”
The low plea she’d added to the end of that statement made Cory take a few steps forward, until he caught himself. What was he going to do? Comfort her? Him? He didn’t even know what was wrong. Even if he did, he didn’t console people. No one snuggled with work-obsessed CEOs when they were…crying.
Oh fuck, was she crying?
She’d ended her call and now stared out into the night. She’d bowed her shoulders and sniffled a few times, then seemed to gather herself enough to answer her ringing phone. “Hey Jill. Yeah. I’m at that stupid gala thing.” Cory frowned. His gala was not stupid. Okay, so it was technically Dillon’s gala, but still. It was for charity, for pity’s sake. “No, it’s totally lame. I mean, the cause is great. I donated and offered some stuff up for auction. But the rest? The pasta salad was full of peppers. Not just green, but red, too. And the table arrangements? I think some people from the hardware store put them together. You and I and Alexa would’ve come up with something way better. Ugh.”
Cory narrowed his eyes, his concern evaporating. Sure, if she didn’t have a hand in decorating something, it wasn’t up to snuff.
“No, I know. I’m just in a mood.” Victoria rubbed her forehead, her slim gold watch sparkling from the twinkle lights that ringed the gazebo. “I have something to take care of tomorrow. Yeah. That. I’m just so tired of being like this. Exhausted. Afraid.” He frowned at the idea that Victoria ever got frightened about anything. Impossible. She seemed fearless. “Sometimes it’s really overwhelming having to hide things all the time,” she added in a near-whisper.
What exactly was she discussing? Perhaps she had a secret lover? He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop. He also knew he couldn’t leave yet.
She talked for another moment before slipping her cell into her tiny purse. Her heavy sigh lingered on the breeze, wafting over him much like her voice. Then she turned, already moving quickly, only to look up, see him, and come to an immediate halt.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
The exasperation that flashed over her beautiful features was a relief. He really hadn’t wanted to be put in the role of confidant, not when she’d insulted his pasta salad—those peppers had been perfectly robust, even if she couldn’t appreciate them—and his flower arrangements. And his gala, period.
“I’m on a nature walk.” Smiling thinly, he reached up to adjust his lapels. “There are slim pickings inside, so I decided I’d head down to the water tower and see who I might come across.”
He’d poked that sore spot of hers intentionally. She’d been caught making out with the captain of the football team at the water tower in high school and people still joked about it. Small towns were like that. If you did something notable—or even better, notorious—be prepared to hear about it until everyone in town alive at the time of the incident died.
It seemed like a low blow, but there was a method to his madness. Better to annoy her than to hear her start sniffling again.
Victoria cocked her head. “Oh? You didn’t bring a date tonight?”
“No.” He tucked his hands in his pockets as he walked up the steps of the gazebo to join her. He figured, what the hell? Sparring with her always got his blood pumping. His work could wait. “Neither did you, it appears.”
“I didn’t try to arrange one.” The diamond stud in her nose sparkled madly, somehow matching her subtle air of irritation.
Cory lifted a brow, almost unconsciously moving closer to her. She smelled as earthy and mysterious as the grounds that surrounded them. That woodland fragrance always teased his senses, drenching him in her whether or not he wanted to be. “And you’re assuming I did?”
“You’re just the boring—oh, I’m sorry—traditional type who usually avoids attending social functions alone.” She grinned up at him. “What will the masses think?”
“You honestly think I give a whit about public opinion?”
“Honestly? Hell fuck yeah.”
He stepped forward before he registered the impulse, his pelvis brushing against hers unintentionally. She went still, then her witchy eyes flickered up to his. “You’re not serious. You’re actually ha—”
“Don’t say it.” It had been a tactical mistake to move so close. He gripped her arm, hoping that would silence her mouth.
No such luck.
“Oh, let’s discuss this. You have an erection. A nice-sized one, too, from all appearances.” She tapped her fingers against her glossy mouth and stared in the vicinity of his painfully aroused groin. “Could it be that you’re attracted to me, a real, flesh-and-blood woman? Have you ever enjoyed one of those?”
Her line of questioning skirted way too close to the conversation he’d had with his parents. This notion that he couldn’t get a woman made his blood boil. He certainly could. He’d even go so far as to say he could get just about any woman he wanted, at least for long enough to make it worth both their whiles.
Even this one.
She moved into his space again, getting right in his face with help from her ice-pick heels. “Not that I can compete with the vixens in your daily life. C’mon, what’s sexier than spreadsheets, projections, and ooh, those long, hard calculations—”
He stepped closer and she fell silent. His entire body pulsed with tightly leashed need. For her. She’d pushed him to this point. Had been pushing him for way too long. Why not take what he wanted for once? Besides, if she kept talking, his brain would simply explode.
So he shut her up the only way he knew how—he kissed her.
