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"You look...wow." He reached out and touched the wreath of diamonds around my neck lightly, then traced his fingers over my collarbone. "I'm glad you wore this."
I touched the same spot. "It's beautiful. Too much, but beautiful."
Brandon shrugged with another shy half-smile. "I'd like to get you one of your own one day. When I know you'll actually accept it."
He cocked his head, looking at me like I was a painting in a museum, a work of art. Slowly, however, his gaze started to heat up with a fire that quickly had me blushing bright red.
"You need to stop looking at me like that," I whispered, even as he picked up my hand and started to run his thumb over my knuckles. From far away, his touch would have looked innocent, but up close, it was anything but.
"Like what?" he asked, making absolutely no movement to stop, neither the touch nor the heated look.
"Like you want to eat me for dinner."
He bit his bottom lip, as if trying to process the comment. Then he released my hand, but leaned in. A bystander might have thought Brandon was telling me a quick secret, but they wouldn't know how his freshly shaved jaw felt when it rasped against my cheek, or the effect of his feather-light touch over my shoulder. It didn't matter that I had just spent the last two weeks straight with the man. Instead of quenching that thirst, it had only made it stronger.
"More like dessert," he rumbled into my ear, which he nipped lightly. "Your pussy's too sweet for anything else."
He stood up straight with a complete shit-eating grin spread that popped his dimples out in full force. I stared at him, my jaw dropped practically to the floor.
Brandon smirked as he dropped my hand, which fell against the silk of my dress like a limp fish. "You want me to reach up your skirt and prove it to you, Red? I could make you lick it off my fingers."
My eyes bugged out even further. "You did not just say that to me in a building full of politicians and donors! There are literally two congressional representatives and an attorney general in this room right now."
"You don't even want me to start on all the dirty things that dress is putting in my head," Brandon said with another sharkish leer. "But now you're not thinking about this anymore, are you?" He held up the card bearing Miranda's name and took a few backward steps toward the ballroom entrance. "I'll be back after I take care of this mix-up. You just keep thinking dirty thoughts about what I'm going to do to you later. With nothing on but that necklace."
With a wink, he spun on his heel and left me clutching the side of the chair. Suddenly unable to stand properly, I decided now was as good a time as any to take a seat at my table when Eric and Jane returned with drinks for all of us.
"Everything okay?" Jane asked, glancing back to where Brandon had gone. She handed me a glass of white wine, which I took gratefully.
"I think so," I said. "He's...taking care of it."
It felt strange to say that when I didn't know exactly what he was going to do. But I was ready to trust Brandon.
"Well, hello there!"
I turned to find Ray and Susan Petersen approaching. I stood up to give Susan a quick, but tight embrace, and she held out my arms to look me over.
"My, my," she said as she looked me over. "Aren't you a vision, Skylar."
"Thank you, Susan," I said. "You look great too."
She smiled, clearly happy with the flowy floral dress that draped over her small, squat form. I gave Ray an awkward kiss on the cheek. He looked as much a grumpy professor as ever in a stolid, if somewhat faded navy suit.
"Brandon is taking care of a mix-up with the guest list," I said as we took our seats. "He has to sit at a major donor table tonight, but I'll be here to keep you guys company."
Ray snorted. "Of course."
"These are my friends from Harvard, Jane and Eric," I said, ignoring the comment. I gestured at Jane and Eric, who both stood up briefly to shake the Petersens' hands.
"All lawyers?" Susan asked kindly as she accepted a glass of champagne from one of the roving waiters while Ray muttered something about a beer.
Jane nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she said. "Just graduated with Skylar. Now we're just waiting on our bar exam results."
"Oh, that's exciting!" Susan replied, clasping her hands together. "I thought about becoming a lawyer at one time. Until I met this old curmudgeon, anyway."
Ray just looked dourly at his wife, but I thought I saw a fond twinkle through his smudged glasses. Jane bit her lip, while Eric stretched an arm back behind her chair.
"Hey there!"
