Page 42 of Protecting Bianca

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.

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