Could I even make it work short-term, with so much at stake in my career?
We were both such busy people, working on things that we cared so much about, that we weren’t going to want to stop devoting so much time to. He would never ask me to give up my career in advertising, and likewise, I could never ask him to give up Knox Liquors.
And besides, I knew so little about him, only the tidbits he had seen fit to share with me. There were still huge gaps in my knowledge of his life. Did I even really know if he was a person I wanted to share my life with?
Mom was still waiting expectantly for an answer to her question. So was Paige.
I did the best I could.
“Yes….?”
ELEVEN
The moment I arrived at the estate for the anniversary party, I saw that Paige had outdone herself. She’d gone for a cool vintage bootlegging theme, and the grounds were twenties-style tails and flapper dresses as far as the eye could see. A jug band played over by the manor house, a hot jazz quartet further down by the stables. There was an open bar, and waiters darted and dived between the crowds of chattering guests, offering deep fried apple-pie-on-a-stick and vintage cocktails.
I had ducked into my cabin as quickly as I could before anyone saw me in my distinctly un-period blue jeans and Rave Boys T-shirt, and after a quick shower, was now changing into a flapper dress of my own. I didn’t really have the slim, near-boyish figure for it, but I loved the way the grey silk slid along my skin, and the hand-beading and embroidery on the hem were to die for.
Also, any outfit with which you get to wear a hat with an ostrich feather in it is a win.
Arms encircled me from behind. “Well, don’t you look scrumptious.”
I jumped before the fact that it was Hunter’s voice penetrated my brain. “You asshole! You scared me half to death!” Despite my harsh words, I relaxed back into his arms, savored the feel of him. God, I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed him until this very moment. “What are you doing here? I thought you needed to get ready—”
“I couldn’t stay away,” he murmured.
And then he kissed me.
It was everything I’d frantically imagined every night of his absence; his lips hot and demanding, his hands fisting in the back of my dress, starting to pull it higher—
I twisted out of his grip, panting, trying desperately to keep a lid on both my emotions and my hormones. “Oh no you don’t. You are not wrinkling this dress five minutes before I have to go out there.”
Hunter raised his hands like a suspect surrendering to the police, then leaned in, his tongue tracing a lazy figure eight on my neck, the sensitive skin there tingling under his touch.
“What if I say ‘please?’” he whispered against my hammering pulse.
It just might be worth it…no!
I pulled away again, shaking my finger at him. “You, Hunter Knox, are the devil himself.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets with a satisfied smile. Then his face went serious. “I would never ruin your big day for you.”
“I appreciate that,” I said, and I meant it.
We grinned at each other like fools for a few seconds. Damn, but that man looked good in a tux, even an old-school one.
“You nervous?”
“And excited,” I said. “But yeah, nervous too, for the big unveiling of the new branding and film. My boss is in from D.C., his boss is in from New York; everything’s riding on this.”
Hunter took my hand and squeezed it. “It’s going to be great.”
And looking into his eyes, seeing his belief in me, I believed that too.
#
We joined the party with a discreet distance between us, trying to make it less obvious that we were…whatever we were. But how could it not be obvious? Couldn’t everyone see the electricity crackling between us? I felt like a little girl trying to hide a broken cookie jar behind her back.
Paige swooped in out of nowhere for a quick hug. “Oh Ally, I’m so glad I caught you! Best of luck, I know you’re going to be brilliant!” Then her gaze caught on something else, and she was off again: “Martin, I told you and I told you, that shade of mauve is completely period-inappropriate—”
I spotted Martha over by the bar and gave her a wave. She gave me a friendly wave back before zeroing in on a hot guy and moving in for the kill. The guy didn’t look like he minded being her metaphorical prey one little bit.
And then I saw the Douchebros, palling around with what looked like most of the board.
Well, not everything could be all roses.
“Nice outfit, Ally,” Chad sneered. “Did you spend half as much time on your rebranding as your make-up?”
Hunter growled, and not in the sexy way. I held up a hand in a barely perceptible signal, restraining him.