10

Jager

She held her shoulders higher, and some color returned to her cheeks.

I couldn’t believe the effect her mother had on her. The vibrant, happy, and amiable woman I knew became what looked like a beaten-down dog in the presence of that woman, and I couldn’t sit there any longer and watch it happen.

My fingers gripped the steering wheel as I recalled how her mother had transformed Bianca with only her domineering presence. It was rude for her mother to ignore her, but I hadn’t expected Bianca to respond to the affront like she did physically. What had that woman done to affect her like this?

“Is this the place?” Bianca asked, looking up at the hotel in front of us.

“It is.” I parked the car. “Wait for me.”

I walked to her passenger side and opened the door for her. It was a small gesture I wanted to do because I couldn’t express what I was feeling. Hell, I wasn’t even a hundred percent sure what I was feeling, but I wanted her to know that I would take care of her if she needed me.

Her soft hand slipped into mine as she climbed out of the car. A smooth thigh, revealing her shapely form, caught my attention, but I raised my gaze to her face instead.

She smiled. “Thank you. But you don’t have to keep opening the door for me.”

“I want to.” I tucked her hand in the crook of my arm. “Are you sure you’re okay to do this?”

“Walk in there with a room full of strangers about to meet four military men I don’t know. All of them probably as big as you? Yep, that definitely sounds less stressful than what I’ve just been through.”

She made light of the situation, but I knew from the tension in her arm that she wasn’t kidding. Distance had helped a little, but Bianca was still tense from that interaction with her mother.

We walked up to the bouncer at the front door, and I gave my name to the woman in black holding a clipboard. “Mr. Payne?” She looked up and blinked. “We weren’t expecting you, but I know who you are. Please come on in.”

“Thank you.” I steered Bianca inside the hotel lobby and helped her slip off her coat.

“She knows who you are? What does that mean?”

I shrugged.

“Come on, Jager. What haven’t you told me?”

How did I say I was one of the largest donors to this event each year without sounding like I was bragging about my money? I didn’t know how much Bianca knew about me. Judging by how upset River was that I was back in her life, I’d guess he’d told her nothing.

“I’m sure there’s a lot we need to catch up on between the both of us.”

“Mmm…” She smiled. “I feel like you’re keeping something from me, but I’ll get it out of you, Jager. I know how to work my magic.”

I swallowed and stared at her glowing face. She was probably the only one who could rip every secret from my heart without even trying.

“Jager!” a deep voice called from several yards away. I recognized Will maneuvering through the crowd, waving me down.

He reached us surprisingly fast as most of the people happily moved out of the tall, muscular man’s way as he barreled toward them.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you tonight. I thought you were on a date.”

I cleared my throat and pulled Bianca forward with our clasped hands. “I am.”

She opened her mouth in surprise but shut it quickly. “Hi. I’m Bianca.”

“Shit. Sorry. Bianca, this is my army brother, Will. Will, this is Bianca.”

Will stuck out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.” Then he looked up. “Oh, just in time. Babe, I want you to meet someone.”

Christina, Will’s girlfriend, walked up to us with a small smile. “Christina, this is Jager’s date, Bianca. Bianca, this is my better half, Christina.”

Christina stuck out her hand. “Thanks for coming, Bianca.”

“I confess, I’m not really sure what this event is for. Jager said it’s some sort of charity gala?”

“Yes. Will and the guys have been silent donors for several years now. It helps raise money for a women’s shelter we’re both very close to.”

“Oh, that’s a great cause.”

Christina spoke succinctly, but there was something in her features that softened when she looked at Bianca. “Would you like to meet one of the women who works there? She’s a good friend of mine.”

“I’d love to.”

Christina put her hand on my forearm. “Don’t be put out, Jager. I’m sure you can mingle while we’re away.”

I shook my head and grinned. “I’ll try to behave while you’re gone.”

“Oh, no. Don’t do that,” she winked and led Bianca toward the back of the room.

Bianca looked over her shoulder, a question in her eyes, but it seemed she was more worried about me than herself. I nodded and smiled, hoping it would reassure her that I would be perfectly fine as long as she no longer looked like a ghost of herself as she had with her mother.

“Well, well, well. What have we got here?”

“Pardon?” I asked, not taking my eyes off of her.

Will chuckled. “Fuck, you’re screwed, man.”

At his harsh words, I turned to him. “What are you talking about?”

“I know that look, brother. You’ve got it bad. Real bad by the expression on your face.”

I swallowed, uncomfortable with his assessment. Did I have it bad? Was I still in love with Bianca?

“Is it that obvious?” I asked needlessly.

He sipped his scotch. “Yep.”

I grinned, unable to find his words upsetting. Why should I care that my feelings for Bianca hadn’t changed? Did that not make me loyal? No, I would not be ashamed or hide my feelings for her. I was starting to feel that fate had crossed our paths together for a reason, and I found I wasn’t pissed about it. Not in the least.

“Come sit with Christina and me. Christian and Hailey were supposed to be here, but they got held up in L.A. and Nikole and Jake will be coming after dinner.”

We stopped at the bar on our way to the table and I ordered a scotch for myself and an Aperol Spritz for Bianca.

Setting it on the table, I sat down and looked for her. She was easy to spot with her red dress and long brown wavy hair. It cascaded down her back, sweeping across the softest skin I’d ever felt.

My fingers itched, wanting to feel its softness now.

Slowly, I brought the glass to my lips as I sipped the scotch and swirled it in my mouth before swallowing the fiery liquid. It burned down my throat, heating up my insides. Or at least I thought it was the scotch. It could have been the way she had just tossed her hair, or the roundness of her cheeks when she smiled. Or maybe it was the curve of her hips, accentuated by the tightness of that dress.

Fuck. It was getting painful just sitting here and watching her. She looked toward the front of the room and then excused herself from the small crowd she’d been talking to.

I watched as I anticipated her coming back to the table, but she didn’t. She stretched her neck, looking for something. Had she missed where I was sitting? Was she looking for me?

I pushed off my chair and rushed to follow her as she briskly walked through the crowd. “Excuse me,” I said as I nearly bowled over a man talking loudly and not moving fast enough out of my way.

“Good God, man. Where’s the fire?” he shot back in a British accent.

It could have been the King of England for all I knew. My attention was entirely on her.

“Bianca!” I called, but she didn’t hear me. She raced down the lobby, and I followed her to a dark alcove. When I saw the sign on the door, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Shaking my head, I laughed at how worked up I’d gotten when I thought she was leaving or that something had happened. No. Poor woman just had to use the restroom.

My phone pinged as I was about to leave, and a message came through. It was Detective Khan. He wanted to meet first thing in the morning at his office. I shot him a quick text back that I would see him there by 9 a.m.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Bianca’s voice caught me after I just sent the message.

“Oh…uh…” I would have made something up, but why not tell her the truth, even at the risk of sounding like an idiot? “I just wanted to see if you were all right.”

She crinkled her eyes and smiled softly. Her lips spread over straight white teeth and those darn rounded cheeks called to me. Without thinking, my hand drew closer to her face until the back of my fingers brushed the softest fucking skin. I thought my calloused knuckles would leave a scraping mark across her unblemished face, but it was still just as smooth.

Our eyes locked, and she licked her lips. She hadn’t said a word and yet the expression on her face was enough to draw me in, pull me closer. I lowered my head until our lips were only inches away. I could feel her soft breath across my mouth. My heart pounded in my chest and blood rushed to other parts of my body.

My God, if only the smell and heat of her drove me crazy, what would it be like to kiss Bianca again?

“Jager Payne! Is that you?” A man clasped my shoulder and Bianca jumped, covering her face for a second before running her hands through her hair.

I turned, ready to break the arm of whoever this man was that interrupted the most anticipated kiss of my life.

But I swallowed my impulse and acknowledged him through gritted teeth. “Mr. Church.”

“I thought it was you. Good to see you. How have you been?” Church asked, completely oblivious to the fireworks going off in my head.

“Fine.”

My abrupt tone must have given Church a clue because he finally noticed Bianca standing in front of me. “Oh. Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt. I’ll see you later, Jager.”

“Was that Roger Church?” Bianca asked, as he walked away.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve been trying to speak to him for months, but his receptionist only puts me through to voicemail. I want to invite him to our launch.”

She stared after the man, and I read her intent to follow him. “I’ll extend the invite to him. He’ll be there.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I saved that man billions of dollars from fraud. He’ll be there.”

“Oh.”

Feeling the energy change between us, I extended my arm. “Ready to get back inside?”

She nodded and accepted my arm graciously.

The first course waited for us at the table. It was a butternut squash soup. “Would you like some cream, ma’am?” the server asked Bianca.

“Yes, please.”

She tasted her soup and closed her eyes. Pleasure crossed her features, and her mouth opened slightly. The image was so wildly erotic thatI had to turn away before I embarrassed myself at the table.

“Mmm,” she moaned, and I slammed my molars together, grinding them as hard as I could.

“So, what do you do, Bianca?” Will asked.

Besides torturing me.

“I work for Grapevine. I’m the Public Relations and Crisis Manager.”

“I hear the CEO is an asshole,” said Christina.

Bianca shook her head. “Not really. He can be difficult at times, but no more than any other boss I’ve worked with.”

Will leaned forward. “That’s quite generous of you to say.”

Christina smiled. “She is in public relations, after all. Did we expect a different answer?”

I expected Bianca to be offended by Christina’s frank remark, but she smiled conspiratorially. “Perhaps.”

Christina laughed, and Bianca did, too. This seemed to me an unlikely friendship, as Christina did not make friends easily. But something must have transpired during their brief time together.

I poured everyone at the table a glass of wine as we all got to know each other a little better. I learned things about Christina I hadn’t known before as she opened up to Bianca in a way she hadn’t been able to with just me.

Bianca laughed and whispered softly to Christina as Will’s girlfriend listened intently to what she had to say. I never thought seeing Bianca so relaxed would bring me such joy, but I found myself smiling at nothing more than a genuine giggle from her lips.

The band started playing shortly after dessert. “Oh, I love this song.” Before I could ask Bianca if she wanted to dance, Bianca popped out of her chair and pulled a defiant Christina onto the dance floor.

Will threw his head back and laughed while Christina made what I was sure wasan obscene gesture in his direction.

“Your girl has a lot of spirit,” said Will.

“She isn’t my girl,” I said, mesmerized by the way she tossed her hair out of her face while she danced.

“Then you’re an idiot.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Anyone with eyes can see that you care about that woman. Don’t let her get away.”

“It’s not that easy, Will. There’s history between us.”

“I don’t know anything about the past, but if you don’t want to fuck up the future, you better do something now.”

The song ended, and Will stood up the moment he heard the soft chord of the piano. Christina turned toward him as though she sensed him before she even saw him and threw her arms around his neck.

Bianca stared at them for a moment, and I watched her face as it turned from joyful to pensive. I didn’t like seeing her that way.

Somehow, I found myself walking onto the dance floor, simply wanting to escort her back to her seat. But when she turned toward me, my hands encircled her waist, and I pulled her closer.

She smelled of roses and lilacs. Like a warm summer day. And when she smiled up at me, it was as though the sun shined on my face and I had to close my eyes or be blinded by it.

I wasn’t sure if her head drifted onto my chest or if I’d pulled her there, but my fingers nestled into her hair and my heart beat against her temple.

Although there was music, I couldn’t tell which song the band played. My body simply moved to the rhythm as my head spun with the possibilities of what this meant.

As though she could read my thoughts, she lifted her face and searched my eyes. If she found what she was looking for, I wasn’t sure, but there was something I needed to know.

“Bianca?”

“Yes?”

“I want you tonight.” I ran my fingers through her hair. “If it’s not what you want, then tell me now, and I won’t ever mention it again.”

She watched me for a long time. It felt like an eternity, but then nodded once.

“You have to say it, so I know there’s no hesitation.”

“Jager.” Her voice was husky, and her eyes slow to blink. But in a steady tone, she continued, “I want you to take me to your place tonight.”