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"Hey man, I'm Adam," he said shaking hands with Ramsey across the table.
"Nice to meet you," Ramsey reciprocated squeezing just a bit harder. "How do you know this bunch?"
"I'm here with Chyna," he said placing his arm across the back of Chyna's chair.
"Really?" Ramsey asked arching an eyebrow in Chyna's direction. "Interesting." Adam looked at Ramsey as if he wanted to confront him about why it was so interesting but he managed to keep his mouth shut long enough that the food arrived.
Chyna dug into the salad that had been placed before her. She glanced around the table, noticed everyone else's food, and nearly dropped her fork. "What are you eating?"
Lexi glanced down at her plate which was filled with a zesty, grilled, lemon-pepper chicken breast with garlic asparagus and a tiny helping of mashed potatoes. "Chicken?" she muttered confused by the question.
"Right. It looks incredible. Why the f**k do I just have a salad?" she asked seeing that everyone else around them had either chicken or steak placed before them.
"Uh…it was probably just a mistake," Lexi reasoned. This didn't look good.
"A mistake?" Chyna asked looking around at the rest of the ballroom. "Is anyone else eating a salad?"
Lexi bit her lip as her eyes shifted around the rest of the room and realized, in fact, that no one else had a salad placed before them. "Uh…"
"Is he trying to say I'm fat?" Chyna squeaked out in horror.
"He's trying to get a rise out of you," Ramsey informed her. "If you give into him, then he's won."
"And how would you know?" Chyna spat out. She was too angry to care who she was speaking to and in what tone of voice.
"Let's just say I have a lot of experience dealing with father figures who want to control everything and everyone. The first tactic employed is degradation," he said taking a sip of the water in front of him. "If he can make you feel like you are less than you are, he thinks he can have more power, more control over you."
Chyna huffed not wanting to give into his obviously good reason. Lexi could tell she was fuming, but she was trying to hold it in. Ramsey's advice was sound, and she wanted to take it, but that didn't make it any easier. Chyna murmured something incoherent into her salad, but finished the rest of the meal without complaint.
Dinner ended without any additional hitches in the plan, and as the plates were cleared away, music filled the ballroom and dancing ensued. Chyna looked as if she might combust with the anticipation of meeting her soon-to-be step-mom. A line had formed before them as hundreds of introductions were made.
"Perhaps we should wait," Ramsey suggested standing, and holding his hand out. "May I have this dance?" he requested formally.
Lexi giggled placing her hand in his and letting him escort her onto the floor. Chyna and Adam followed them and they twirled around in circles to the jazz music playing through the speakers. Soon enough they were surrounded by other couples happily dancing to the music.
Lexi rested her head against Ramsey chest letting her eyes close as they swayed back and forth as a slow song came on. "I really am sorry that I was late," he whispered stroking her lower back. "I wouldn't have missed this for anything."
"It's fine. It wasn't your fault," she reassured him breathing in his minty freshness.
Ramsey's hand came up and tilted her chin up to look into his eyes. "Thank you."
Lexi raised her eyebrows in confusion. "For what?"
"Letting me be here," he said capturing another gentle kiss from her.
Lexi had to do everything in her strength not to pull his face back down towards her and cover his mouth with her own. Her body was being very needy in that moment. All she wanted to do was ditch this place and go back to her apartment.
But she knew that she couldn't do that…even if she wanted to. She was still recovering from everything that had happened in her life over the past month. Jumping into bed with another man, no matter how attractive Ramsey was, would not be in her best interest. Right now she just wanted to forget everything and get lost in his gorgeous body, but she knew that she would regret it. She would regret wasting something that was already going well, with someone that she was beginning to care about.
The last thing she wanted was for Ramsey to become a one night stand. She had been through her fair share of those and it wasn't pretty. After that kind of intimate behavior with hardly any emotional attachment, they never reconnected. She just felt used and in return as if she had used them as well. She wanted to fulfill her physical needs, but not like that…not anymore…not after what had happened with Jack.
She knew Ramsey could be so much more than that if she let herself feel again. She just had to give herself enough time. The boundaries they set up were in place for a reason. So that at a time when she had been sane and not overcome with physical desire, he knew that she couldn't just sleep with him. Of course, she hadn't been able to tell him why, but he knew she had been hurt. Hopefully she could trust him enough not to take advantage of the situation.
"I have to go meet her," Chyna said breaking up their intense moment and sidling up next to Lexi. Adam was at her side and seemed to look between Ramsey and Lexi with idle curiosity.
"We'll go with you," Lexi said using this as an excuse to step out of the physical tension that had formed between her and Ramsey. Ramsey licked his lips before finally breaking his gaze from Lexi's face and following the rest of them towards Chyna's father.
"Chyna," Richard acknowledged his daughter. His eyes traveled from her to the rest of the group, resting on Ramsey for a second longer than the rest, and then returned to Chyna.
"Dad," she muttered. "You remember my friend Alexa?"
"Of course," he said smiling as if he hadn't ogled her the day before like a prized stallion and insulted her without another word.
"This is my boyfriend," Chyna almost choked on the word, "Adam Preston and Alexa's boyfriend Ramsey Bridges."
Richard sidestepped Adam completely and turned to face Ramsey. "Bridges you say?"
"Yes sir," Ramsey told him shaking his hand firmly.
"I thought I recognized you. Great man your father. You're the spitting image of him too. Great things come from your family," he told him. Chyna could see the look in her father's eye. He didn't even have to say anything to her, but she could tell he was wondering why she hadn't come with a man like Ramsey Bridges.
