Page 96 of Succeeding Love

Maybe I’d get Vin to trip up once or twice, too. The way he was looking at me had butterflies fluttering chaotically in my chest. His looks were lethal on a regular day, but dressed up like this, I felt ready to combust with every glance in his direction.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” Vin whispered in my ear. His tone was hushed and sexy.

“Once or twice,” I grinned, leaning against him.

He kissed me beside my ear, and I could feel his smile on my skin. “You’ll be hearing it once or twice more.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” I rested my hand lightly on his chest, admiring the hard muscles beneath my fingers.

He smirked, then said, “We don’t look too bad for getting ready in thirty minutes.”

“That’s a record for me. I thought it would take me thirty minutes to just figure out this dress.”

I bought this a little over a year ago for another event like this one. An event I was supposed to attend with Nick. He broke the news about Arlene before I ever even opened the garment bag. I felt Nick fading away at that point and picked out something a little more risky than what I normally would have. I’m glad I never wasted this dress on him.

“I helped,” Vin said proudly, rubbing his thumb on the small of my back. “I’ll be helping you get out of it later, too.”

I bit my lip to keep from gaping at his suggestive comment. I was already looking forward to getting home later.

Home with Vin.

Gosh, by next weekend, he could really live with me. I just have to talk to the kids to make sure this isn’t something that will cause therapy or anything like that.

“Fay!” I heard a familiar squeal as we walked into the foyer of the event building.

I looked over to see Virginia, one wife of Nick’s bosses, coming my way. She already looked intoxicated and had a full glass of white wine in one hand.

“Fay, my lovely. It’s so good to see you!”

She walked right up to me, pulling me into an overly enthusiastic hug. I almost fell down, but thankfully, Vin’s large hand on my back kept me upright.

“Virginia,” I laughed awkwardly. “Um, yeah. It’s good to see you too. How are you? How’s Ella?”

“Oh, good,” she waved her hand. “She’s with the nanny for the weekend. Gotta give this mama some time to get her drink on. You know what I mean?”

I smiled through the awkwardness. Cecilia, the long-time girlfriend of one of Nick’s other bosses, looked embarrassed for Virginia. I tried to smile and reassure her, but Cecilia never liked me much and just gave me a tight smile. She kept glancing at Vin, though, which I found to be unpleasant.

“Aw, Feighlynn,” Mr. Stevens, Virginia’s husband, came up and put a hand on his wife’s elbow. He grabbed it rather forcefully, which I liked little. He was always a little too rough under the surface with his wife and was all smiles and underhanded compliments to others around him. “I didn’t think I would have the pleasure of seeing you here.”

“Small world, I guess,” I smiled tightly. I had no reason to converse with the toxic man any longer, and didn’t want to open up more of a dialogue than he already had.

Mr. Stevens ran his eyes up and down my dress in a way that made me feel yucky. Vin must have noticed, because he grabbed my waist and pulled me against his side.

Stevens’ eyes crinkled in the corners, and I couldn’t tell if the tension was amusement or concealed irritation.

“We should get back to our table, Ginny,” he squeezed his wife’s arm, making her wince slightly. “Good to see you again, Feighlynn.”

Cecilia wrinkled her nose, gave me one last look, then sent Vin a completely different look before turning to follow her friend and Nick’s boss. I breathed a sigh of relief when they were gone.

“Who’s the sloshed chick?” Vin asked as Virginia was being dragged away.

He was still giving Mr. Stevens that hard look. Stevens was a hard man to like, especially for a morally conscious man like Vin.

“Nick’s boss and Virginia is his boss’s wife.”

“Oh.” Vin looked even more disgruntled.

I laughed at his protective expression. He looked every bit the action hero I deemed him to be, ready to sweep in and save the damsel from the evil rich man with more money than values.

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