Page 145 of Mr. Wicked

A grin warmed her face.

I didn’t really have the ability to read lips, but for some reason, I was so in tune to hers that when she said, “Excuse me a moment,” to the group she was with, I knew exactly what she’d said.

Within a few paces, she was at my side and my arm locked around her, and as I glanced down, I had the best view of her body and the tight dress that covered it. “Baby, I want you to meet someone.”

Her skin flushed as she gazed up at me. “I think I may already know who he is.” She then looked at my father. “I saw you walk in. The two of you could be twins, the resemblance is so uncanny.” She reached out both of her hands toward my father. “Mr. Tanner, it’s lovely to finally meet you.”

He opened his arms. “You’re family, come here.”

She wiggled out of my grip and fell into his.

“Introducing them at a bar where any onlooker can ask him a question about you two. You’re ballsy, my man,” Easton whispered to me.

I leaned my face toward his and replied, “He knows, and he’s been prepped.”

“You told him the truth?”

“He wouldn’t have believed it otherwise.” My stare told him what I wasn’t saying. “He knows how I’ve always felt.”

But he also knew how I felt about Jovana now.

Prior to the change that had happened between us, I had seen no reason for them to meet before the wedding. To unveil that part of me to her. To have my father grow feelings toward someone who would be in my life temporarily.

But things were different now.

There were feelings.

I wanted him to see that. And I wanted him to establish his own.

“Ahhh, now it makes sense,” Jovana said, gaining my attention as she turned toward me but stayed next to my father. “This is who you get your charm from.”

I hadn’t listened to their conversation since I’d been preoccupied with my own, but I still replied, “My old man has always known how to charm the ladies.”

My father glanced at Jovana. “You’ve done well for yourself, son. She’s even more beautiful in person. Smart as a whip, too, I can tell.”

“Thank you.” Her skin flushed again. “But I’m pretty obsessed with your son, if you can’t already tell.” She laughed. “Speaking of which, I hope you know that he’s the reason we’re all here tonight. He negotiated the deal between my best friend and Nate, the previous owner of the bar. Without Grayson’s help and coaching and mentoring, none of this would have happened.”

I took a sip of my new drink. “I don’t know about that ...”

“He’s being modest,” Jovana countered. “I know my best friend, and that’s why I can say with confidence that he’s responsible for making her dreams come true.”

“A conversation—that’s all it was,” I replied.

“No, no, no.” Her goddamn grin was infectious. “He’s telling you only half the story. Sure, it was a conversation. But in all actuality, it was multiple conversations, and he reviewed Sloane’s business plan and gave her feedback and he helped facilitate all the financial arrangements of the deal.”

She was bragging about me, and with each point she made, I could see my father getting deeper into the story.

“The reputation of an asshole, but a giant teddy bear inside,” Holden said, clasping my arm.

“Don’t say that too loud,” I warned. “I don’t want a single motherfucker in this bar to think I’m anything but an asshole.” I winked at him.

And when I looked at Jovana, her entire expression had changed.

Because she wasn’t just focused solely on my face.

She was glancing between my father and me, and eventually, she nodded at me, but continued to look at him as she said, “That one, I’m so proud to call him my forever.”

“Holden, we’re in the middle of a lovefest,” Easton joked.

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