The help?
Oh yeah, someone needed to beat his ass. And enlighten him. The people calling the shots in the world now all came in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. His antiquated thinking was laughable and needed an adjustment. It was a shame I wasn’t going to be the one to tweak his worldview.
“I’m Langley’s date.” I smirked at him and crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t look the same way he did in a polo. Thank God. “She obviously upgraded.”
A sneer very much like the one I’d received from the stepmother crossed his face. “Seriously? What is that girl thinking?”
I rolled my eyes. “Probably that she wants to be with someone who isn’t trying to stick his dick in everything that moves. Congrats on your wedding, by the way.” My smile was more a baring of teeth. I couldn’t believe someone as sweet and obviously as smart as Langley had fallen for this loser.
The preppy jerk sidestepped me and gave me a wide berth as he stomped off down the hall. Damn. I hadn’t even been here for twenty minutes and I was already earning the cash Langley was forking over. It was much easier than I anticipated to make the upper crust angry. I flashed Langley a thumbs up when she called my name from the end of the hall. I dipped into the bathroom for real, wondering if the candlesticks near the sink were pure gold or not. This was hands down the fanciest place I had ever taken a piss. Shaking my head at my own thoughts, I washed my hands with the smelly frou-frou soap and dried them on the monogrammed hand towel.
When I walked out of the bathroom, I was surprised to find a blonde leaning against the opposite wall, a blonde who wasn’t Langley. No, this blonde was all long legs and predatory green eyes. She looked enough like the stepmother that it was easy to assume she was the infamous Camille.
Immediately on the defense, my spine stiffened and I narrowed my eyes in a warning look. I wasn’t letting this chick close enough to touch. It was obvious she and the Dick were a match made in heaven if the way she was practically stripping me down with her eyes was any indication.
“Where is Langley?”
The stepsister pushed off the wall and gave me a smile that made my blood run cold.
“Taking care of something for me. She can’t tell the bride ‘no’ this close to the wedding. I saw your picture on her Instagram. I didn’t believe you were actually dating her. I had to come see what all the fuss was about for myself. You have all my friends thinking twice about using the fraternity on campus to find future husbands, and instead have them considering hanging out at the closest army base instead.” She took another step toward me, but I was quick to dodge out of her way.
Man, maybe growing up in this house was just as dangerous as growing up in a border town. The weapons were different, less sharp and pointy, but the intent was the same. Take out the weak by any means necessary. Only, I didn’t think Langley was weak. I thought she was kind. Her heart was far too soft to be in the care of these vicious women.
“Well, now you came and you saw. I’m going to go find Langley.” Like, right now. I didn’t want to spend any more time alone with this girl. “By the way, you should probably worry more about what your future husband is getting up to, instead of worrying about your stepsister’s date.”
A smile that was sharp as a switchblade crossed the blonde woman’s face. “Oh, I know exactly what Richard is up to. How do you think I managed to lure him away from Langley?”
Vicious wasn’t a strong enough word. This chick was lethal.
“I guess you two deserve each other then.” I started to walk away when I felt the brush of her hand down the length of my spine. It made me shiver, but not in the good way.
I looked at her over my shoulder and cringed when I felt her fingernails drag across the nape of my neck.
“I deserve the best, but for some reason, Langley always seems to find it before I do. It’s always so much fun—and so awfully easy—to take the best away from her.”
Oh, hell no. I was here to play a game, but not this kind. Like I told Langley the first night we met… you didn’t mess with family.
I really was going to have to do my best to protect Langley from these predators. But who was going to keep her safe once I was no longer around?
Langley
“I can’t thank you enough for your flexibility, Mandy.” I finished the phone call with the spa, and then moved the Velcro-backed appointment card to an hour later on the movie poster-sized schedule for Friday.
Now, Camille wouldn’t have to wake up at the “god-awful” hour of eight a.m. for the bridal party’s morning of pampering. Who knew what had driven her to demand that immediate change, but hopefully Iker hadn’t gotten lost while I’d been jumping through hoops for her.
The impulse struck to move every single appointment between now and the wedding, just to piss off Camille, but it would send her into a meltdown, which would send Virginia into a nuclear one, which would then rain down all sorts of hell on Dad.
Not worth it.
I walked out of the dining room rubbing my temples. Just a few more days, I reminded myself. Then all this wedding bullshit would be over, and with Camille and Richard on their honeymoon, I could finally enjoy the rest of the summer.
My stomach dropped at the thought of never seeing Iker again, though.
It was stupid, and I was more than aware of it, but I liked him. How could I not like a guy who was willing to put himself through torture to help his little brother pay for college? Ten thousand was a drop in the trust-fund bucket for me, yet it was life-altering for Iker’s family.
I wasn’t blind to the privilege of growing up with money, but it was hard to truly measure the real-world effects of something I’d always known...until I spent time with someone who’d had to work for every single thing he had.
My thoughts clicked along at the same rate as my heels across the polished floors. Maybe I could find out where Iker’s brother was going. Maybe my trust fund could help out with a little anonymous scholarship. If he was half as smart as Iker said he was, and half as good-hearted as Iker was, it was a more-than-sound investment in the future of...well, humanity, I supposed.
It shouldn’t be so hard for them when I had it so easy.
And besides, it would relieve a ton of stress off Iker’s shoulders.
It also meant he wouldn’t have to do something as desperate as find another socialite to fake-date.
Not that he would. Pretty sure he’d run screaming from my little zip code and the people in it the moment this weekend was over. Hell, even I wanted to.
“I deserve the best, but for some reason, Langley always seems to find it before I do. It’s always so much fun—and so awfully easy—to take the best away from her.”
I stopped dead in my tracks just outside the hallway that led to the powder room as Camille’s grating voice reached me.
Knowing she took glee in hurting me wasn’t a new revelation, but hearing her say it out loud was still a shock. I’d given her the benefit of the doubt when we were younger, knowing that she had massive daddy issues, and—quite frankly—wanted mine. It had made sense. Who wouldn’t want my dad to be theirs? He was smart, and funny, and kind, and had a heart bigger than the state of Colorado.
But she hadn’t been willing to share her mom, which was a sentiment Virginia wholeheartedly agreed with.
So, I understood it, her competitive nature. Her completely selfish drive to take everything I had. My mom had died. Her dad hadn’t wanted her.
The two were vastly different.
But if she was talking to whom I thought—
“See, I’m not something that can be taken away from Langley.”
Iker.
Oh, hell no.
She’d wormed her way into every facet of my life. Even dyed her hair the same shade as mine. And I’d let it slide.
But she couldn’t have Iker.
A bolt of possessiveness hit my bloodstream like lightning, and my feet propelled me into the hallway before I’d even decid
ed what to do.
“There you are, baby,” I said to Iker as I strode down the hallway.
I pretended not to see the white ankle-strap Louboutins directly behind him, and the rest of her didn’t require my imagination. Iker’s massive frame simply blocked her out.
“Langley,” he uttered my name with a sigh of relief.
I didn’t stop until my hands rested on his chest, and before I could talk myself out of it, I rose on my toes to press my lips to his.
For being such a hard guy everywhere else, his lips were incredibly soft and full.
Iker didn’t miss a beat. His arms came around my back to hold me against his chest as he kissed me back. It was light and simple, but his lips lingered over mine, gently sucking on my lower lip before he released me.
Okay, maybe it had been too long since I’d kissed a man, but honest-to-God tingles shot down my torso. My head spun a little and I couldn’t stop my tongue from darting out to lick across my swollen bottom lip. As far as first kisses went, this one was gonna rank at the top of my best kiss list for a very long time, and it hadn’t even been real.
“Langley, did you get those reservations changed?” Camille’s saccharine-sweet question barely registered with my kiss-muffled brain.
If he could do that with just one tiny kiss, what else could that mouth do?
Iker stared down at me, his eyes boring into mine with a touch of confusion and something else that—
“Langley!” Camille snapped.
I blinked, bracing my hands on Iker’s arms as I looked to find her standing next to us now. “I’m sorry?”
“The reservations?” she reminded me, her eyes narrowing just a fraction.
“Oh, right. Yeah, I got them moved like you wanted. No problem. Even updated the board and everything!” I smiled at her in an open dare.
“Hmm. Thanks.” Her attention darted toward Iker and back to me, as if she’d heard me stake my claim—and the challenge in my voice—loud and clear.
I wasn’t going to let this on go without a fight.
“Well then, let’s not keep everyone waiting. There’s a backyard barbecue to get to!” She crinkled her nose with a little grin.
“We’ll be there in a second,” Iker said, his low, growling voice rumbling against my breasts...because I was still pressed tightly against his chest.
And his eyes were still on me. Only me.
Oh.
“Everyone’s waiting,” Camille sang.
“This will only take a minute. We’ll be right out,” Iker replied as his gaze dropped to my lips.
“Huh. Right, then, okay.” She walked away from our little moment, if the sound of her heels was any indication. I was too busy looking at Iker to watch.
“Sorry,” I whispered as he turned me in the hallway.
“Really?” His eyebrows shot up with his nearly silent reply.
I caught the retreating blur of white pause in my peripheral. Great, Camille was waiting at the end of the hallway, no doubt listening.
My voice dropped even softer. “I didn’t think, just...reacted, and—”
My back met the wall as his mouth covered mine.
There was no tentative, tender brushing of lips. No apology. I opened under him and his tongue rubbed against mine, sliding into my mouth like he owned it.
Maybe he did and I hadn’t even been aware of it until right then.
His hands framed my face as he kissed me deeper, tasting like the wintergreen mints he’d left in my car yesterday. He stole my breath, my reason, and my inhibitions with every stroke of his tongue, until I was kissing him back just as fiercely, winding my arms around his neck.
Pure want slammed into me, filling every cell in my body that came into contact with Iker. It was more than chemistry. It felt...necessary, like air, or water.
He didn’t kiss me like he was being forced to, or even like he wanted to. He kissed me like he needed to. When a sound like a whimper slipped from my lips, I felt him shift. I was lifted to the very tips of my toes and suddenly we were eye level with one another.
His coarse, super-short hair tickled my palms as I held the back of his head and leaned into his kiss. The world didn’t narrow to Iker, there was simply nothing outside of him—outside of this moment.
“Langley,” he whispered before pressing me harder against the wall, until all I felt was him.
All I ever wanted to feel was him.
I pulled him back to my mouth and he took it, kissing me breathless for another exquisite moment.
The kiss stopped as suddenly as it had started.
“She’s gone,” he said, leaning his forehead on mine. His voice was low, sandpaper-rough.
“Oh,” I replied, my senses coming back to me.
He retreated, and I realized why I could look him straight in the eye. My ass was supported by his hands, and my feet were nowhere near the ground.
If my dress had allowed it, I probably would have had my legs wrapped around his damn waist. Luckily, the very expensive and form-fitting fabric had kept my thighs good and locked together.
He lowered me slowly, sending a whole new batch of tingles racing through my nerve-endings as I rubbed against every hard line of him on the way down.
It had all been for show, right?
“She was watching,” he confirmed my thought as my feet reached the floor.
“Oh,” I repeated. Because even though my body had stopped, my brain was still kissing him.
He stepped back, breaking our physical connection.
“I didn’t think,” he said with a shake of his head, giving my earlier words back to me. “Just...reacted.”
A sense of loss swept over me, which was just downright stupid because he was never mine to lose. It was perilous to my foolish heart to even begin to think like that.
“And I don’t regret it,” he finished, as if he’d been speaking to himself, not me.
With this admission, that sense of loss was replaced with something even more dangerous—longing.
Before I could overthink any of it, he took my hand and I led him through the hallway and past the kitchen, and finally through the French doors at the terrace.
“This is not a barbecue,” he muttered as he surveyed the lawn.
I took in the half-dozen banquet tables covered with food, including one with a tiered display of macarons, and the guests that milled about on the patio just below us.
“What would you call it?” I asked him as just about every head turned toward us.
“Ridiculous,” he answered. “I would call it ridiculous and pretentious.”
I laughed as he walked me down the stone steps to join the party of about six dozen people. Only the closest of friends and family, Camille had promised.
Virginia gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes as she clanged something against her wine glass. “Well, now that we’re finally all here,” she began, turning to where Camille stood, leaning into Richard with her arm wrapped around her waist.
Dad winked at me from Virginia’s side, and I gave him my first genuine smile of the party.
“I just want to thank you all for coming today,” Virginia said, her voice thick with forced emotion. “It means so much to us to see our beloved daughter marry the love of her life.”
Iker’s hand tightened around mine, no doubt in response to Virginia’s words.
I squeezed him twice, letting him know I was okay. This was nothing new in my world. I’d long ago learned to fake it when it came to any true emotions in dealing with them.
“Waiters?” Virginia ordered with a crook of her fingers.
White-jacketed staff came forward, all holding trays of charged champagne flutes. Iker took one and handed it to me before securing one for himself, never letting go of my hand.
“If you’ll all raise your glasses,” Virginia requested, lifting hers.
I did as she asked, noticing Iker kept his low and loose in his hand.
“To Camille and Richard. May yo
ur life be filled with all the love and happiness you both so richly deserve.” Genuine tears filled Virginia’s eyes.
There it was again, that ache from the empty place in my life where Mom should have been.
“To Camille and Richard,” the crowd responded appropriately. I sipped my champagne at the same time we all did, completing the toast as Camille looked up at Richard dotingly.
“They certainly deserve each other,” Iker muttered.
I sputtered, nearly sending wine out of my nose.
“Are you okay?” Iker asked, grinning down at me as the crowd headed for the tables.
I laughed in response, covering my mouth with the heel of my hand...that happened to still be holding my champagne flute. It tipped, sending the clear, sweet liquid straight to the patio.
“It’s good to see you laugh,” Dad said, barely dodging the deluge as it splashed toward his shoes.
“It’s nice to be laughing,” I admitted, as he leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Dad, this is Iker Alvarez. Iker, this is my dad, Corbin Vaughn.”
Iker let go of me, but only to swap his glass so he could shake my dad’s hand. “Sir,” he said, his voice strong and sure, “you have a lovely home, but an even lovelier daughter.”
Holy smooth-talker, Batman.
“So very true, though I can’t take credit. Langley is her mother, through and through,” Dad responded, smiling at Iker. “I’m glad to meet the man who makes her smile.”
“Likewise.”
Handshake over, the two men both looked at me.
I was out of words. What exactly was a girl supposed to say after she introduced her very real, very heartfelt dad to her very fake boyfriend?
“This is some party,” Iker filled the silence for me.
“It’s”—Dad sighed—“a little over the top.”
I flat-out snort-laughed, earning me a real laugh from Dad.
“You know it, I know it, and I’m pretty sure even Virginia knows it. But it makes her happy, so here we have it.” He gestured to the guests who were making their way through the buffet.
“It’s definitely not what I was expecting when Langley told me you were having a barbecue,” Iker admitted.
Girl in Luv Page 6
