“Wasn’t expecting to see you here,” he said in that lilting accent.
She mentally sighed. Maybe he’d agree to let her record him reading a book or something.
Except was that kind of creepy?
“Same,” she said and congratulated herself for sounding calm and vaguely bored.
He transferred his smile to Elijah and accompanied it with a polite nod. “Are you going to introduce us?” he asked Leah.
“I’m Elijah,” he said, before she could remember what few manners she chose to practice, and stuck out his hand.
Blue Eyes shook it. “Hello, Elijah.” Then he looked her in the eyes and, voice soft with an alarming tenderness in the curve of his mouth, he said, “I’m Will.”
Chapter Nineteen
She swallowed. Will. Not Farquar. She quickly squashed the smile that tugged at her mouth. It suited him.
She knew, like his story in their last meeting, his introduction had been meant just for her. In return, she allowed herself a small, indiscriminate smile and said, “I’m Leah.”
Surprisingly, his smile turned bashful. He tucked his hands into his pockets and said, “Leah. It’s nice to meet you.”
Her name sounded exotic in his accent. She wanted to hear him say it again. “You too, Will.”
He reached up to run his fingers through his hair, mussing it. It made him look adorably boyish. “So …” With a small gesture to indicate the room at large, he asked, “Why are you here? This doesn’t seem like your type of party.”
She raised her brows at him. “What is my type of party?”
He gave an elegant shrug. “Quiet. Simple. A handful of close friends.”
“Hm. Sounds about right. Except I don’t have many friends, remember?”
“Just me and you then,” he said, blue eyes mesmerizing. Her stomach did a flip.
She cleared her throat and glanced at Elijah, who was watching them with his head tilted and a shrewd look on his face. “I’m here to look after my brother. My parents like to pretend they still belong in these social circles.”
“I see.”
“And they like to occasionally parade me around like a show horse, just in case I catch the interest of some wealthy heir.”
Will’s smile grew strained, and his brows drew together a bit. “That’s … swell of them.”
She reached out to brush her brother’s hair off his forehead and refrained from saying, Sure, if by ‘swell,’ you mean ‘shitty.’
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, making a vague gesture at the lobby where more chairs waited to be appropriated. “I’ve had my fill of stuffy, old people for the night.”
“Knock yourself out,” she said and then slid her hands beneath her thighs to keep from fidgeting. That was a sign of nervousness, and Leah Carter did not fidget.
He gave her a grateful smile that was altogether too sexy, and strolled away to retrieve a chair. Unlike how she’d manhandled the heavy chairs across the lobby, he picked one up with ease. He made his way back, happily ignoring the irritated looks of the servers who’d been keeping track of Leah’s furniture rearrangement. He set the chair down against the wall next to hers, close enough so that when he sat, their thighs touched.
Her face felt hot. She slouched a bit and focused her gaze on a painting across the room in order to compose herself.
Will leaned forward, angling his head so he could address her brother. “So Elijah. How old are you?”
Elijah pulled his feet up onto his chair. The hem of his pants rose to reveal black socks with yellow Batman symbols. She had bought those for him a few months ago.
“I’ll be ten in two months,” he said.
“Double digits. Nice. Are you the man of the house then?”
Elijah looked at Leah. When she only gave him a half smile and a shrug, he said, looking thoughtful, “I guess. Hey, what’s your accent? Is that England?”
Will looked impressed. “Close. Scotland actually. Wee bit farther north.”
“Like the North Pole.”
“Wee bit farther south,” Will said, grinning.
“Is it cold?”
“It can be.”
Elijah made a face. “Me and Leah hate the cold. Mom says we’re sickly because we get sick whenever the weather changes.”
“The trick is in being prepared.” He leaned forward as if about to impart a secret. It put his face in close proximity with Leah’s.
She held her breath. She imagined she could feel his body heat burning her skin even through their clothes. At her other side, Elijah leaned forward as well in anticipation.
“Layers,” he said simply. Elijah’s brows crashed together in confusion. “Lots of layers. All your socks. Shirts, jumpers, jackets, just throw on your entire wardrobe.”
Elijah started snickering and shaking his head.
“Why, just look at your sister,” Will said with a nod at Leah. His shoulder nudged hers.
“What about me?” She looked down at herself, and then felt her face grow warm again when Will followed suit. He gave her body an appreciative and thorough look.
“Well,” he said, returning that blue gaze to her face. He winked before addressing Elijah. “Her dress is entirely inadequate for warmth. It’s no wonder she’s always getting sick going around letting in every cold draft.”
“It’s not cold enough yet for me to need a jacket,” she said, playing along.
“You fail at being prepared.”
Elijah beamed and held out his suit jacket-covered arms. “I’m covered.”
“That you are,” Will said. “You’d do just fine in Scotland, I think.”
Her brother looked pleased by this. “Leah and I were playing a game. Want to play?”
“Absolutely.”
As Elijah and Will made up back stories for the nearby party guests, Leah was content to watch and listen. She enjoyed seeing the way her brother’s face lit up, the way his eyes grew wide when he talked, the enthusiasm in his voice. A part of her was a little jealous by how quickly he’d taken to Will. Elijah had always been eager to meet new people, but he also tended to hold himself back until he got to know them better. That wariness was something he’d no doubt picked up by watching her. But he seemed to quite like Will, and pettiness aside, the majority of her was happy for it. Elijah had never had any decent guys to talk to, and it was good of Will to engage her brother.
“That one’s a faerie prince,” she said, jumping in on the game. She nodded at a tall guy with white-blond hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. His perfectly tailored suit was black, but his shirt and tie were gray with a light sheen to them. They matched his gray eyes. All in all, an attractive guy with an ethereal quality. “Here to tempt human children to go back with him to his world.”
His gray eyes shifted and met hers. She wasn’t embarrassed to be caught looking, but then the corners of his mouth quirked up into a flirtatious smile. If her mind and body hadn’t been fighting the pull of a gorgeous Scotsman for the last month, she might have smiled back. Hell, she might even have allowed him to take her to a hotel.
But she was acutely aware of the guy sitting to her right, of his body heat, of the way his hand rested inches away from her own. Of how she wanted very much to reach over and run her fingers along his knuckles, his wrist, trace the muscles along his forearm …
She looked at Will to find him watching her, those blue eyes piercing.
If you blush again, I will shank you, she told herself.
“Do you like faerie princes?” he asked.
She smirked. Was he jealous? “Depends.”
“On?” He inched closer. Their breaths warmed the narrowing space between them.
“How well he can enchant me.”
His eyes lowered to her mouth. “Is that a challenge?”
“Uh,” Elijah said.
Leah immediately looked away at the same time Will leaned back.
“Okay, well,” she said, feeling irritably flustered. “Good game, guys
.”
Elijah was giving them that ‘I know what’s going on, I’m not stupid’ look. He pretended to gag, and then curled over and laughed when she began poking his ribs.
“Stop, stop!” he cried between laughter.
Leah ruffled his hair and drew back to let him breathe. He slumped into his seat in relief, grinning.
“How long do we have to stay here?” he asked, rubbing his side. His suit pants were wrinkled from all his squirming.
“Not much longer. I think Mom and Dad should have forgotten about us by now.”
“I have to use the bathroom.”
She gave the huge room and the two entrances, one at either side, a searching glance. “Then let’s go hunting.”
“I know where it is,” Will said, standing. “I can show him.”
“I should come too,” she said, reluctant to let Elijah out of her sight, even if it was with Will. She wanted and liked him more than anyone she’d ever met, but that didn’t mean she trusted him with her brother.
Elijah made a face. “Ew.”
She gave his shoulder a playful shake. “Not into the bathroom. Trust me, it’d be worse for me than you.”
The three of them filed across the room toward the broad entryway where the dark-haired boy with the green necktie was still standing with his friends. As they approached, the boy turned his head, pointedly ignoring them. Most of his friends did the same, but one of them openly glared as she passed.
Those sorts of guys were so predictable. Damage their egos, and they devolved into six-year-olds. Or even further back into outright Neanderthals. Twice, a guy she’d turned down at a party had taken the rejection personally and followed her to her car. She had introduced each of them to the sharp end of her heel.
What was it with guys believing they had the right to a girl’s attention just because of the parts dangling between their legs?
A rough hand grabbed her butt. She spun on her patent leather pumps, already swinging the black clutch in her hand. Before the metal edges of her clutch could meet with her offender’s face, Will had the guy by his lapels and body slammed him against the wall.
Leah drew back in surprise. Her hand came down to pull Elijah behind her as the guys surrounding Will sprang back, jostling nearby guests.
“That was extremely rude. Touch her again, and I’ll break your hand,” Will said in a perfectly reasonable voice that made the guy look panicky. It did something entirely different, and likely inappropriate, to Leah’s stomach though.
“I was just messing around, man. Get off me!” The guy struggled, looking to his friends for help, but they only stared, wide-eyed and embarrassed. One of them was even laughing.
Will hauled the guy around and gave him a none-too-gentle shove at Leah. “Apologize to her.”
Enjoying the show, she crossed her arms and hitched an expectant eyebrow.
The guy scowled at her and then at the audience they’d attracted. He muttered a barely intelligible “Sorry.” Then he tugged down his rumpled suit jacket and shoved his way out of view.
“Is there a problem here?”
The question came from one of the servers. He had finally broken through the crowd of gawkers now that the scene was over and everyone was wandering back into their own conversations.
Leah shook her head. “Everything’s fine, thanks.” She looked at Will, who nodded in agreement. “Back to our quest for the bathroom?”
“Right,” he said, and they left the confused server looking around and wondering what had just happened.
Elijah bounced past Leah to match Will’s longer strides. “Wow! That was so cool. Can you show me how to do that?”
Will glanced back at Leah. “If your sister’s all right with it.”
She gave a noncommittal shrug. It wouldn’t hurt for him to learn a little self-defense from another guy. The most she could show him was where to aim with a sharp heel.
“Yes!” Elijah walked with a spring in his step all the way down a long black and silver hallway. At the end, laser-engraved silver signs announced the restrooms.
There was an upholstered bench against the wall opposite the restroom doors so Will and Leah sat while Elijah disappeared into the men’s room. The seats here were ridiculously comfortable. She briefly entertained the idea of smuggling one out along with the hors d'oeuvres. Resting the back of her head against the cool marble, she cast Will a playful smile.
“So. Thanks for keeping an eye on my butt.”
There he went, looking abashed again after he’d just body slammed a guy into the wall. “I wasn’t … well, all right, sort of. But I mean—”
“Relax,” she said and reached out to touch his sleeve. “I mean it. Thanks.”
He observed her hand on him, expression thoughtful, before looking at her askance. “It’s an extremely compelling bum.”
She couldn’t help the way her mouth stretched into a grin, or the way her body shifted forward, as if drawn to him by an invisible thread. “I do like it myself. In fact, I think I’ll keep it.”
“I certainly wouldn’t object,” he said, leaning closer as well.
“I’m glad to hear that. Will.” Wow, that was going to take some getting used to.
As was this urge to kiss him. She’d been wanting to kiss him since the moment he walked up to her, looking much too handsome in that suit. All she could think about when she looked at his hands was how they felt against her skin, his fingers gliding up her side, over her ribs. His palm against her breast.
He must have been thinking the same thing because his face was drawing closer. She bit her lip. He was so close.
Oh, to hell with it.
She closed the distance between them. When her mouth finally met his, her eyes shut and she gave a quiet moan of relief.
The bathroom door swung open. They sprang apart.
It wasn’t Elijah. But the guy gave them a suspicious look before continuing up the hallway back into the main party room.
Leah ran nervous fingers through her hair and settled back against the wall to restore her composure. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. My brother … I can’t right now.”
Will nodded. His hand touched her wrist. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have either.”
When she turned her head to look over at him, she could see in his face that he did understand.
This wasn’t a rejection. This was a rain check.
And the promise of it smoldered between them.
Chapter Twenty
The next hour passed quickly, and Leah knew it had to do with the company. To her surprise, she enjoyed hanging out with Will and talking about things other than their sexual problems. After the kiss outside the bathroom, Will had been on his best behavior. That didn’t mean she wasn’t still intensely aware of him, but she was grateful they could get along without their so-called addictions getting in the way.
After wandering around the building—the rooms that were open to the public anyway—and marveling at the luxury, the three of them had found their way back to the main room. Now, Will and Elijah were discussing how best to conceal stolen hors d'oeuvres, some of which were quite fragile. Leah sat nearby, resting her feet, and smiled when Will actually tried to stuff one in Elijah’s pocket.
“There you are.”
She looked up. Her mom was standing in front of her with one hand on her hip and an irritated purse to her lips.
“What?” Leah said, wary.
“Why are you hiding in the corner? Took me forever to find you,” she said. “Come to the restroom with me.”
“What do you need? Elijah—”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she snapped. “It’ll only be a minute.”
Scowling, Leah checked with Will and Elijah first. She answered her brother’s questioning look with a shrug and grudgingly followed her mom.
As her mom led the way back toward the restrooms, her perfectly curled hair bounced around her shoulders and down her back. For as long as Leah could rememb
er, everything about her mom, from the way she talked to the fall of her hair to her choice of nail color, was controlled. Deliberate. Calculated, even.
But maybe Leah only believed that because she had never been able to see past her mom’s veneer. She supposed now would be the perfect time to say something, but the words stuck in her throat.
“I caught my dress on something,” her mom said, voice clipped. “I need you to check it for any holes.”
“That’s it?” Leah muttered.
This time, they made it to the bathroom without incident. It was amazing how fancy a public restroom could be. Even the toilets gleamed.
Standing in front of the gold-framed mirrors, her mom pulled her pale coils of hair over her shoulder and presented Leah with her back. “Anything?” she asked.
Leah leaned close to inspect the back of her dress. It was a high-necked, shimmery yellow gown with simple, clean lines and a dramatic cut out in the lower back. Nothing seemed out of place.
“Looks fine,” she said, stepping away.
“Double check. I thought I felt something tear.”
“Mom, it’s fine,” she said but moved in again anyway. She ran her fingers along the slippery fabric to feel for puckered threads.
As they stood there, it occurred to Leah how weirdly normal it all felt. Mother and daughter taking a joint trip to the bathroom so the daughter could check her mother’s dress for a tear. To an outsider, it wouldn’t have been anything remarkable.
To Leah, it felt like a first, tiny step.
“So I was thinking,” she began, her eyes trained on the back of her mom’s dress instead of meeting her gaze in the mirror. “Maybe we could … I don’t know, hang out sometime.”
Her mom grew still. The muscles in her lower back, revealed through the dress’s design, visibly tensed. Leah’s stomach knotted, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to continue.
“Maybe all three of us could have dinner next week. Dad could even join us if he wanted.” She rested her fingers against the shoulder seam of her mom’s dress and asked, voice small, “So what do you think?”
Addicted to You Page 11
