Page 34 of Just One More Moment

She clasped her hands in front of her in a praying gesture. “Please? We’ll go, see Angel, I’ll let her know how well she did, and then we can leave. I’m sorry for what I said. I trust you to protect me,” she added. And she did or she wouldn’t think of attending.

“You’re killing me.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “Tell me one thing.”

She nodded, eager to answer him because she sensed he was weakening. “Sure.”

“Did you wake me up and seduce me in order to get your way when my defenses were down?” His knowing gaze bore into hers.

Shoulders drooping, she nodded. “It started out that way but the second I touched you, I forgot all about having an agenda. I wanted you,” she said in a husky voice.

“Dammit, Raven.” He met her gaze and she hoped it was resignation she saw in his eyes and tight expression.

“So… you’ll take me?”

“You don’t go anywhere where I can’t see you. If you need the ladies’ room, I’m standing outside. I mean it.”

She exhaled long and hard. “Okay. I promise.” Relieved and happy, she dove over him, assuming what she’d begun to think of as her spider monkey position, hugging him as she wrapped herself around him.

“What am I going to do with you?” he muttered into her hair.

She couldn’t hold back her smile. “I can think of a few things.”

Next thing she knew, he was inside her again and nothing around her existed or mattered but Remy.

***

That night, Remywas on high alert at the coffee shop. He still couldn’t believe how the little minx had gone about convincing him to take her.

His gaze darted from the entrance around to every corner of the room. No Lance.

Though she’d come to his apartment with the clothes on her back, Remy had gone upstairs to her place one night while she was busy at the bar, and packed up clothing and personal items to bring home. He thought surrounding her with her own things would help ease her anxiety. Raven was grateful but to his surprise, she’d also ordered items online that were more like his sister’s taste and tonight’s outfit was a new version of Fallon’s boho look.

Raven dressed in a new flowy skirt, this one a bright orange, leggings to keep her skin warm underneath, a navy sweater with open shoulders and a pair of white Chucks.

He had the sense she was coming into her own without realizing it and her need to be there for the young girl she’d mentioned was the deciding factor for Remy in agreeing to come tonight. He couldn’t be the reason she let the girl down.

He leaned against a wall at the coffee shop, drink in one hand. He’d chosen a spot with a good vantage point to look around and one with a direct view of the entrance. Raven had promised to stick close and let the people she knew drift toward her to say hello instead of him having to scope her out as she moved around the crowded room.

Since this wasn’t his first time there, familiar faces said hi to him and he nodded or smiled back. Remy wasn’t an antisocial guy but he had an important focus tonight and he didn’t want to be distracted because he was deep in conversation.

Raven was more jittery this evening than last Sunday, which surprised him since she wasn’t going onstage. She bounced lightly on her Chucks, looking around.

“If you see him, all you need to do is tell me. He won’t get near you. Not with me around,” he assured her.

She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “I’m not worried about Lance. Angel isn’t here and I hope she didn’t decide to blow the night off.”

He couldn’t control the warmth filling his chest at her response, nor did he want to. She was everything warm and giving and the deeper she let him in, the more he liked what he saw.

“I’m sure Angel will show up.” He hoped he was right because he had a feeling Raven would be devastated if she didn’t. “Do you have any way to reach her?” he asked.

Raven shook her head. “She never gave me her number.”

“Raven.” A young guy wearing a beanie with long hair walked up to her and engaged her in conversation, which gave Remy a chance to look around. To see if there was any sign of Lance.

The early, mingling part of the evening continued in the same way, with Raven worrying about her friend and Remy’s concern more focused on her brother. And he wasn’t talking about Caleb.

“She’s here!” Raven exclaimed in an excited voice. She took two steps away from him and he grasped her elbow, preventing her from leaving.

“Let her come to you, remember?”

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