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As if saying his name had summoned him, Holden entered the room with a muttered, “Sorry I’m late.” He leaned forward to brush a kiss against his mother’s cheek before moving to the only empty spot at the table without looking at any of its other occupants. “My last meeting ran late, and traffic was terrible.”
He unbuttoned his suit jacket as he lowered himself into the chair — an entirely innocuous action that he somehow managed to make unreasonably masculine. Surely it was horror that made my throat tighten as he reached for the knot in his tie, tugging at it until it loosened. My God, when did the drinking start at these things? Yes, that was what I needed. A drink.
I was certain I felt my heart stop beating while I watched him adjust the cufflinks on the starched blue fabric that encircled his wrists. The action felt oddly intimate. I shook my head lightly. The man was wearing actual cufflinks. Who wore cufflinks in real life? At this point, if they’d asked us to change into our swimsuits after dinner so we could swim around in a pool full of gold coins, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
“I’m sure you remember my sister, Sutton.” Sissy’s voice jolted me out of my head and into the conversation happening around me.
My gaze clashed with a pair of blue eyes so dark they almost looked navy.
“Sutton,” Holden said, his head dipping in acknowledgment, “it’s nice to see you again.”
His deep voice was rich and thick, like warm syrup, and I had to fight against the urge to let it soothe me. Instead, I reminded myself that every smooth, polished word out of that mouth — with its perfectly shaped lips — was a honey-coated lie.
“You as well,” I lied right back, flipping open my napkin a little too aggressively and jamming it onto my lap. I felt Mama’s eyes burning into the side of my face, but I steadfastly ignored her.
Blessedly, serving staff appeared out of nowhere just then, and began setting dishes on the table. A man stopped at my left, leaning forward to ask in a hushed tone, “Wine, miss? We have a lovely caber — ”
“Yes,” I interrupted. I didn’t care if it came out of a box from the discount bin of expired items and had been aged with antifreeze. “Thank you.”
I watched with big, greedy eyes as he filled my empty class with the deep red salvation. He stepped away discreetly after he deemed my glass full enough — I disagreed, but manners — and moved on to Mrs. St. James. A quick glance around the table revealed that Macon and Sissy were already sipping from their glasses, so I wasted no time reaching for my own and knocking back a healthy swallow.
“Sutton, your father tells me that you’re a video game developer in Savannah?” Mr. St. James asked, dragging me unwillingly into the spotlight.
I set my wineglass down, angling my body in my seat just enough to face him without having to turn my head. I was digging deep tonight to find every ounce of Southern politeness Mama had ever drilled into me.
“Yes, sir, that’s right,” I answered, trying to remember that I was doing this for my parents. “I started with OmegaVs as an intern and never quite left.”
“I don’t believe I’m familiar with OmegaVs.” I couldn’t tell if this was a statement or follow-up question.
“They design video games,” Holden chimed in, resolving my internal debate. I turned to face him and met those blue eyes again. They were so dark they looked like the sky at night just before the moon appears. My surprise must have been evident because he added, “They were talking about going public last year after one of their new games took off.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.Outpost: Doom Patrolwas our baby, and she was still thriving.
“We did consider going public, yes, but as I’m sure you know, we decided against it.”
He nodded, those eyes steady on mine. “It was the right decision.”
His tone was so confident that I felt the urge to punch him in his smug-looking face, even though I completely agreed with his assessment.
“Doom Patrol,” Macon called out, drawing my attention back to the other end of the table, which suddenly felt infinitely safer. “That was it, right? That game was huge.”
“It still is,” I responded with all the pride of a new parent. “And we’re working on a universe expansion right now that I think will be even better than the original game.”
“Savannah’s an interesting place for a tech company to be headquartered,” Mr. St. James added thoughtfully.
“It is.” I lifted one shoulder, letting it fall. “The CEO grew up in the area, and real estate in Silicon Valley is absurdly expensive. It made sense to look at alternative locations.”
“As much fun as talking about Sutton’s little...hobbyis,” Sissy cut in, leaning toward Holden in a way that made her cleavage very, very hard to miss, “Macon and I wanted to take a moment to thank y’all for being here with us this evening. Family is so important to both of us.”
I caught my eyeballs mid-roll and sternly reminded them that we were on our best behavior this evening. Sissy turned her cleavage back to the only person she should have been aiming it at and gave him her best pageant smile. This was apparently Macon’s cue.
He reached for his glass and raised it. “A toast,” he announced. We all dutifully raised our glasses, and I caught Holden wearing the same grim expression I suspected half this table was trying to keep at bay. “To the joining of our families.”
I was temporarily blinded by the light reflecting off the huge diamond on Sissy’s finger as she lifted her glass to her mouth. That wasn’t a rock, it was the whole damn mountain. How did she even manage to lift her hand with that thing on? A discreet kick to the shin accompanied by a delicate clearing of the throat from Mama had me scrambling to take a sip while I fixed my face.
Blessedly, the toast signaled a shift in conversation toward all things wedding, leaving me to eat a delicious piece of prime rib in peace. Every once in a while, I could have sworn I felt the weight of Holden’s stare on me, but I studiously kept my eyes on my plate while the conversation flowed around me.
“How long are you in town for?” Holden asked during a lull in the conversation. I assumed the question was for me since everyone else lived locally.
