Page 14 of If You Could Only Believe
My mouth dropped open in the most unladylike fashion. Anything else??Did that mean…? Are we going to…? Does he want to…with me???
“Michael, what will people say?” But before he could answer me, I told him what people were going to say. “I’ll tell you what they’re going to say. They’re going to say I must have paid you, or you must feel sorry for me, or you lost a bet, or…or I’m sleeping my way to the top, or…”
And, then, in front of God and everybody making their way into the hotel, Michael let go of my hand and cradled my face in his hands. He leaned down as my hands wrapped around his wrists. “If I hear of anyone sayinganythingabout you or me or us in such a negative fashion, they will answer to me, Sophia,” he gritted out. “I won’t let anyone get away with judging what we’re doing openly or otherwise.”
I thought my heart was going to beat itself right out of my chest and start flopping around right there in the middle of the sidewalk. “Whatarewe doing?”
He lifted the corner of his mouth in the most sweetest, sensual smirk. “We’re dating,” he stated simply. He’s known me all of five minutes, but we’re dating. Oh, God! Maybe my IQ has finally made my mind snap, and this is all a horrible hallucination.
I pushed him back, bent over and rested my hands on my knees. Oh, God, I was having a heart attack. I was having a heart attack and Michael was going to have to skip the party to take me to an emergency room.
If this was all real, of course. I was still placing my money on a hallucination.
I mean, for the love of God and Little Baby Jesus, I’ve never even kissed a guy before, and now, suddenly, Michael Buchanan is supposed to be my first date?
My first date to a company party where everyone will see us?
“Sophia, baby, are you okay?” he asked, his breath hitting my ear.
My body jackknifed into an upright position, nearly knocking Michael upside his head. I stared up at him in a most incredulous fashion, I’m sure, and whispered yelled, “No, Michael, I’mnotokay.” My arms stared flailing about, and he took a step back to avoid possible abuse. “One minute I’m at work, minding my own goddamn business, and then the next, I’m here and you’re sprouting out nonsense about usdating.” I stepped to him because it seemed like the appropriate thing to do when one’s losing their mind. “I’m a virgin, Michael,” I hissed. “I’ve never even kissed a man before because I’m...well,me. I am not equipped to date a Buchanan! I mean, Bejesus Jesus,lookat you. Do you have any idea what you look like?!”
Michael placed his hands on my shoulders and studied my face. After a few agonizing seconds, he said, “Relax, Sophia. Breathe, baby. I promise it’ll be okay.”
I stared up at him, and I swear I wanted to smack him…and then kiss him.
“Quit calling me ‘baby’,” I hissed.
Michael ignored my request and grabbed my hand again. “Come on, Soph,” he said. “We have a party to get to and I’m sure my family is wondering where I am.”
I had so much to say to that, but I decided to put a stop to my nervous breakdown and just follow the man into the party. I dropped my head to avoid all the open-mouthed stares. And why wouldn’t they stare? Michael Buchanan was attending a party withmeon his freakin’ arm.ME.
He was holding my hand and everything.
We made our way through the lobby and towards the convention hall where the party was taking place. I followed Michael silently and gave thanks that no one stopped him to speak with him. When we entered the hall, it was clear the party was already a success. There was music, laughing and mingling going on all around us. I kept my head down until Michael came to a stop and I was forced to accept that he wasn’t letting go of my hand any time soon.
When I finally looked up, I looked into the faces of Mason, Shane, Aiden, Denise, Gabriel and Justice Buchanan all seated around the main table.
Holy. Oh. My. God.
I’d never seen such a stunning group of individuals assembled together at one time. These people were almost mystical and having them all together in one place should be banned as a city ordinance or something.
“Holy crap,” I vomited out. “Wh…ho…normal people don’t look like…” I swiped an arm indicating I was referring to the beautiful tribe of six. Did beautiful people automatically find other beautiful people to keep the world populated with beautiful people?
The women all smiled, while Gabriel and Aiden outright laughed. Mason just cocked his head at me and smirked.Mason freakin’ Buchanan smirked at me!Like we were friends or something.
Michael squeezed my hand and said, “This is Sophia, my date.” I wheezed out a choking sound, but it didn’t faze him and everyone else chose to ignore my choking. “She works for us as a finance analyst.”
Aiden spoke up, surprising the crap out of me. “Of course, Sophia Martella,” he announced smoothly.
Holy Moly! Aiden Buchanan knew who I was!
“Oh, my Lord, you know my name?” I asked, shock evident all over my face.
Aiden didn’t get a chance to answer as Gabriel, with his identical twin smile, said, “So, your date, huh, Mike?”
“Yep,” he smiled back. And I looked back and forth between the twins knowing I was missing some sort of twin communication connection.
Michael ushered me to an empty seat at their table, and the next hour or so was spent with me silently sitting beside Michael while he and his family greeted and spoke with all the random employees who approached their table. It was almost like a wedding reception, except instead of the head table hosting the bride and groom, it hosted the Buchanan clan.
