“And I told you this was the least revealing of my gowns. Just suck it up. Your future Amish wife will dress more according to your tastes. I won’t. Besides, you are getting it wrong. It’s not the dress, you dummy, it’s the shoes. The higher the heels, the dirtier the girl, didn’t you know that?”
His eyes darkened, but he didn’t answer to her jab. “I don’t want you doing anything that would make you stand out. More than you already do by looking like…”
“A ho?” she offered, defiantly.
He cupped her face, his expression fierce. “Like the fucking hottest, sexiest, funniest, most aggravatingly beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Judging by his glare, one would assume he was insulting her.
She placed her hands on his chest and, without breaking eye contact, whispered, “Thanks for the compliments.”
“They aren’t compliments.”
Yes they were, even if he obviously couldn’t stand it. “The fucking hottest, sexiest, funniest, most aggravatingly beautiful woman you’ve ever seen will refrain from causing you any trouble or discomfort. In exchange, you have to dance with her.”
“That will cause me discomfort. I don’t dance.”
“You did at James’s wedding.”
“I was under duress, being the best man and all.”
“Consider yourself under duress here too,” Elle stated. “I need to assess your abilities. There can never be too many people in a flash mob and the next one is in a couple weeks.”
A smile crept across his face. Encircling her neck with his hand, he brought her to him and kissed her long and deep. “In your dreams, pet.”
“In your dreams, gorgeous? In your dreams, princess? In your dreams, sweetheart? Don’t you think any of these sound better?”
“No.”
It figured. Stubborn Neanderthal. “You’re so lucky I’m humoring you,” she said, attempting to unstraddle him.
“Do we have a deal?” he asked, holding her down and gliding his hard cock over her sensitized *.
“About what? I forgot already,” she said with a gasp.
“The whole Bowen clan will be there, along with many other guests. You follow my rules, I won’t haul you out on my shoulder and I’ll make it worth your while later on.”
You’ll make it worth my while anyway, she almost replied, but at the last second, she kept it in.
She leaned into him and kissed him, making a huge effort to lift herself from his lap. “Yeah, yeah. Calm down, Borg. You’ll overheat and lose your speech capabilities again. You need to pass for human now.”
Shaking his head, he let her go.
Elle stepped out of the car, straightened her gown, and took the arm he was offering.
“Just so you know, you also look like the hottest, sexiest and most aggravatingly beautiful Borg I’ve ever seen.” And she wasn’t the only one who thought so, because all the ladies they crossed paths with as they entered the lobby were eating him with their eyes. “The title of funniest you can’t claim, sorry,” she finished, winking at him.
Jack shook his head, the flash of a smile warming Elle’s insides.
Some of the Bowens were by the door of the ballroom, so they headed their way.
A man approached Jack and Elle, someone looking like a bodyguard on his heels. “Alex, qué bueno verte por aquí.”
Jack’s expression didn’t waver, but she noticed a slight tightening in the arm she was holding. Jack nodded in greeting and let out a torrent of words in what it sounded to Elle like perfect Spanish, shaking the stranger’s hand. Okay, so they were friends, but why the hell was this guy calling Jack Alex?
She smiled, hiding her surprise.
Then the man turned to her. “?Y esta belleza?” And this beauty?
Unlike Jack’s, his words in Spanish had a heavy American accent.
There was a silent warning in Jack’s touch, so Elle continued smiling and waited for his cues.
“This beauty is mine, and I won’t make the same mistake twice,” Jack answered in a light tone so un-Jack-like it was shocking.
The newcomer broke into laughter and taking Elle’s hand, kissed it. “Forgive Alex’s rudeness; he’s fiercely protective of his dates and I committed the ultimate sin of being more charming than him last time we run into each other. I’m David Exxum.”
“Nice to meet you.” This Jack was not the Jack she knew. He moved differently, and had a slight Spanish accent when speaking English, a cadence he didn’t have before. Unsure what she should or shouldn’t say, she opted for keeping her mouth shut and smiled.
“You here for the fund-raising?” David asked, gesturing down the hall, in the opposite direction.
Apparently there were two events in the hotel that evening.
At that moment Tate saw Elle and, flagging her, headed their way.
Jack didn’t move, and Elle didn’t notice any change in his expression, but James did, because he stopped dead in his tracks and called Tate back.
“Yes, we’re here for the fund-raiser. Shall we?” Jack offered, turning his back on the Bowens and walking toward the other ballroom. “Pet, didn’t you want to powder your nose? We’ll go ahead and wait for you there.”
That was her cue to bail.
“Sure, I—”