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I shrugged, though I couldn’t stop the smirk. “Or a weed.”
CASSIDY
“I think you’re trying to kill me,” I muttered, holding out my hand for Cassie and helping her out of the rear of the SUV and onto the curb. Her feet had barely touched the ground before I tugged her toward me and swept my arm around her waist, cursing softly in her ear, “Fucking hell, you’re beautiful.”
Her dress was emerald green and floor-length because, well, it was a charity ball.
The silky material followed every damn curve of her body, leaving little to the imagination with just the feel against her skin. It wasn’t super tight but fit her like it had been made for her and only fucking her. The back was low with a couple of crossed strings, and the front dipped between her breasts where the material scrunched naturally.
With her hair tied up slick and tight into a high ponytail, this woman looked sleek, sexy, sophisticated, and fuckingmine.
I didn’t give a damn about the cameras that started flashing.
Or whatever the photographers were calling from behind me.
There was nothing that could draw me away from this woman in this moment.
I pressed a gentle kiss to her head, her soft laughter a welcome response as she straightened my tie before circling her hands up around my neck. “You clean up good yourself,” she said, her thumb gently brushing over my jawline. “I was getting kind of used to the leather, but the Louis Vuitton… it hits a little different.”
She hummed softly in approval as she drew her fingers along the edges of my lapels and pushed up on her toes, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. Holding her there, tight against my chest, I deepened the kiss, enjoying the taste of fresh mint on her tongue.
“Would you like me to get the hotel to roll a bed out here for you?”
Cassie and I both pulled back smiling. She was shaking her head as I glanced over at my little brother. “Would you like me to put you in a headlock and let all these reporters have evidence of me making you tap out?”
His smug grin dropped, and he followed behind us as I took Cassie’s hand, and we walked into the building.
“Remind me again why I’m wearing this damn suit,” Rip complained as we strolled through the hotel lobby toward the elevators. The atmosphere inside was much calmer, people scattered around in chairs and on sofas, sipping at drinks from the bar.
We were early for Reed’s event, but I had something to take care of in the hotel, and Reed wanted Cassie to check the flower arrangements before they opened the doors.
“Because you said you’d come to be another set of eyes on Cassie,” I answered as the three of us stepped into the elevator.
“I really don’t nee—”
“Just let me have this small peace of mind?” I asked, cutting her off and earning me a deep eye roll. However, there was no argument that followed. “Thank you.”
She knew how this worked.
I was the overprotective alpha as she had pointed out back in Boston. And while she hated feeling like some kind of burden, I knew it made her feel more comfortable. And with what I had planned later, I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly.
Reed met us at the elevator on the ballroom floor, Cassie glancing back when Rip and I didn’t exit behind her. “Aren’t you…”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I told her, holding the door with my hand.
She didn’t like it.
But I’d make it up to her later.
When Reed pulled her attention away, I hit the button for the sixteenth floor, tapping my foot impatiently and tugging at the cuffs of my jacket until the doors opened again, and I stepped out. “Wait here, just try and keep people away from room 1637.”
It was just down the hall.
I knew because I’d stayed in this hotel more times than I could count.
“Don’t do anything I’d do,” Rip murmured with a chuckle, leaning back against the wall beside the elevator.
I wandered down the hallway, cracking my neck to the left, then to the right, trying to release some kind of tension before I paused at the door, raised my fist, and hammered hard.
