Page 67 of For the Gods' Sake

A surprised laugh jumped out. “Oh, he’s your father-in-law now, is he?”

“I told you Reyna, I’d marry you if you let me.”

I shoved away the trickle of anticipation that promise thread through my stomach. “Because people like weddings and babies are cute, right?” I returned, restating his words from the first night we met.

Adrian laughed incredulously, but didn’t answer me. Not when his gaze traveled over my shoulder and his arm pulled me tighter into his chest.

“Reyna,” Adrian said, my name sounding like a threat on his lips. My head snapped up, meeting this thundering gaze. “Who is your ex, again?”

My back tensed, and I knew he could feel it under his hand.

“You know who he is.” Of course he did. And the flexof his fingers confirmed it. My eyes closed on instinct. “Please don’t tell me he’s here.”

“I have to, honey,” he said, his hand making a pass over my skin. “With your cousin, it seems.”

“How bad is it?” I didn’t have to fill in the rest of the sentence. He knew what I was asking.

“He’s staring at you with a mix of anger and attraction.” But then he exhaled, the warm air coasting over my forehead. “But the anger is winning out. Other people are noticing.”

I had to make a joke, to divert to humor to distract from the twist of dread in my stomach. “I’m surprised someone who doesn’t feel that much emotion can read it so well.”

Adrian wasn’t fooled, his hand coming up to grip my chin. To make me look at him. “Why are you nervous? What did he do to you?”

I had no choice but to answer him honestly when I was held that tightly by his stare. “Nothing serious,” I said, in an attempt to placate the growing rage I saw building across Adrian’s face.

No such luck. “He just wasn’t very kind about some things. So I ended it. And then he proved to be a royal ass who had no problem spewing all my negative traits to anyone who would listen.”

Adrian’s hand tightened on my skin then released, thumb swiping in a soothing motion. He snuck another glance over my shoulder and I knew then I didn’t want to be here anymore.

I just wanted to go home. But we couldn’t, so I said, “Can we go sit down, please?”

Adrian’s eyes found mine immediately. “Do you feel okay?”

“Yes. I just need some water.”

Adrian turned on his heel, pulling me after him and directly into a chair, plopping me down like a child. He caught a waiter passing. “Water. And whiskey.Now.”

“Is the whiskey for you?” I asked, looking up at him.

Adrian sat, pulling the leg of my chair closer to him and wrapping my arm around his so that his hand could fold over my thigh. “No. It’ll help calm your nerves.”

If we were alone, I would have kissed him right on his perfect mouth. Instead, I said, “Thank you. I just…”

“What, honey?” Adrian prodded, a grin pulling at his lips.

And something in the combination of my nerves and my weariness of lying made me say, “I just want to sit in this corner with you for the rest of the night.”

The muscles in Adrian’s face went slack, his eyebrows pulling together. Like what I’d said made him almost sad. “Then we’ll do just that.”

Responsibility pricked at the back of my mind. “I know you wanted to look for—”

“My vision is just fine from right here.” His tone left no room for disagreement. “And I have three more sets of eyes around the room. We’re staying here.”

I felt eyes on me, hot and heavy and invasive. And suddenly, it felt very important to stay here with Adrian, wrapped in his warmth.

There was no denying it anymore. Even if he would deny it, rail against the descriptor in the name of cool control. Sitting next to him, on the outskirts of the room, it felt like sitting next to a fire, the flames licking across my skin.

“Okay,” I said softly.

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