Page 57 of Marrying Mr. Majestic

I scrambled to figure out how to explain it when I suddenly felt the warm slide of Silas’s strong hand across my lower back. His touch centered me.

“Yes,” I said, standing up a little straighter. “We hit it off. It happened really fast, but…”

Silas stepped closer, moving his hand to rest on my hip. It was a calming touch… and a claiming one. “I talked him into it,” he said. “Got him drunk and convinced him to do something crazy.”

I glanced up at him. Though he didn’t look at me, I found on his face the same confident, dominating energy he gave to most things. The self-assured corporate leader whose word probably made lower-level assistants scatter to do his bidding. A person no one questioned.

Except Eden. “Way’s not the type to get drunk married in Vegas.” She folded her arms over her chest. “What really happened?”

I let out a bark of nervous laughter. “I promise what really happened was me getting drunk married in Vegas.”

She studied me, her eyes clear blue pools of sympathy. It was an emotion I wanted no part of. “Because you were upset I said no?”

“No,” I said firmly, knowing I spoke the truth. “Because there was something about Silas I couldn’t resist.” I glanced at him again, feeling nerves swell in my stomach. This time, his eyes met mine, their intensity lighting me up the way they always did. “Still can’t, to be honest.”

More truth.

Silas leaned in and kissed the spot right in front of my ear, letting out an almost inaudible rumble of pleasure that only I could hear.

When I looked back at Eden a moment later, her eyes were wide and focused on my jaw, precisely where Silas had kissed. “I don’t understand. Have you always been into guys?”

I opened my mouth to automatically respond to her the way I’d done for fifteen years, but when Silas’s body tensed again, I stopped. I understood Eden’s curiosity, but this wasn’t the time or place to discuss my sexuality journey, and on some level, it felt like a betrayal to Silas… even though I knew that wasn’t quite accurate.

“Tell me about the sponsor photoshoot,” I said instead, giving her a smile to soften the abrupt subject change.

Eden went along with it and described the various climbs and the nesting raptors they’d seen.

It was hard to concentrate on her words, though, because Silas’s thumb had snuck under the edge of my T-shirt and brushed light circles on the skin above my waistband.

I wanted to be alone with him, to turn and seek reassurance in his arms as if he were a true life partner. It was stupid of me to entertain those thoughts when our unspoken agreement was sex only and forging any kind of emotional connection was obviously a terrible idea.

It wasn’t like there was any kind of future for the two of us. Our lives were impossibly different. I had no desire to leave Majestic, and he couldn’t possibly want to leave the corporate world in New York. But there were moments like this one when I thought about it, and the thought brought a wistful “what if” feeling that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

“…water volume is still too high, so I hope the folks at AdventureSmash are willing to wait.”

I blinked out of my reverie. “Wait, what?”

“The Majestic River. The rapids are too dangerous. No one can get on the water right now. You’ll have to send a drone up for a preliminary bird’s-eye view of the run until the volume comes down and it’s safe enough for a boat. Should be good to go in a couple of weeks.”

I worried the team at AdventureSmash wouldn’t be happy waiting, but there wasn’t much we could do if conditions were too dangerous. Eden must have been able to tell what I was thinking because she reached out to squeeze my arm. Silas immediately released me and stepped aside, as if I couldn’t handle being touched by two people at once.

Eden smiled warmly. “Relax, Way. It’ll be safe again in plenty of time for the event, and the AdventureSmash people should be fine with the drone footage for now. They just want to make sure there are no new obstacles or obvious impediments.”

“I don’t have a drone,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

“Foster or the SaR team should have one, or they can find one to borrow. Take a breath, babe. It’s going to be okay. Everyone’s looking forward to the exhibition, and when I stopped at Lake Sports and talked to Jackson, he said everything is in great shape.” She met my eyes. “You’re doing good, Way. Promise.”

Silas turned his head and peered up at the rock face. That simple gesture made the dynamic between the three of us feel even more awkward.

I gritted my teeth together and tried to stamp down my growing annoyance. Maybe all of this was in my head and I was the only one feeling incredibly off-kilter.

“Thanks for doing these climbs,” I said. “Let me know what you find at Maude.”

She nodded and smiled again. “No problem. Feels good to get out here and climb without needing to be on camera or look a certain way. Our plan is to hike back via Serenity and do some bouldering there as long as the weather holds.”

“You have a radio?” I asked out of habit.

“Yes, Dad. And flares and a sat phone. Don’t worry.” Her expression softened before she leaned in and gave me another hug. This one was tighter and longer. “Promise I’ll be okay,” she murmured in my ear.

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