Her sable brows flatten. “Ifeela little like a hostage.”
“Thendrink,” I repeat, clinking the glasses together and bringing mine in for a sip.
Elle hesitates before turning away from both me and the crowd of party-goers behind us and downing the entire glass.
“There you go.” I step closer to her side and follow suit, then pass off both empty flutes to a tray of discarded glasses to my left. An ever-attentive waiter is at our side immediately and offers his tray of full flutes, and I swipe another two for us. “Pound this one, too, if you need to.” I set the glass in her shaking palm and then gesture at the space. “Everyone here is already approaching tipsy anyway.”
She takes a large swallow and then hovers the glass at the level of her face. “You think me being drunk will help with the bottom line?”
“No, but Iknowyou being a bundle of frayed nerves will definitelynothelp with it.” I take an equally large swallow and then gesture at her with the glass. “Go to your happy place, Elle. Or better yet, adopt a mental mantra.”
Elle offers a slow blink. “Such as?”
I step even closer to her and dip my face to speak into her ear. “One. Million. Dollars.” Pulling my face back just a hair, I catch a glimpse of the smile that ghosts across her full lips and the serpentine glint in her eyes. And since she’s supposed to be my girlfriend right now, and since it’s right there in front of my mouth, I press a kiss to the corner of her jaw.
Before drawing away from her, I see the scatter of chills across her bare arms as her chest does a subtle rise-and-fall with a silent breath.
Standing in front of her again, I salute her with my glass. “Better?”
She nods.
“Good.” I swap the glass to my opposite hand so I can place my palm on the small of her back and nudge her toward the edge of the gathered party-goers.
Elle stands close enough to my side that our thighs brush with every step, and I’m borderline distracted by her scent of citrus and summer flowers and simplehappiness. “Are we going to talk tohimright now?” she asks, face inclined up toward my ear.
“No.Heis not here at the moment,” I say discreetly. “There’s about a million social festivities planned for this weekend, and we’ll bump into him at a few of those. We’re just going to make the rounds so the fact that I brought my girlfriend makes it through the grapevine all the way to Liliana.”
“Ah.” Elle offers a sage nod and then lowers her voice. “So you’re basically going to walk me around and piss on me in front of all these people.”
A totally undignified snort and laugh explodes out of me before I can stop them, and I turn to stand in front of her. “What?”
She bobbles her head sassily, causing a long strand of her hair to sweep across her delicate clavicle. “You know, like marking your territory.” Her lips purse tightly, and her cheeks bloom with color as she restrains a titter. “Sorry, I know toilet humor has no place here, but champagne goes straight to my head.”
A grin forces itself across my face. “I think I’ll add your toilet humor to my happy place.”
Her face turns a bit pinker, and it’s obvious she’s fighting a wide smile as she inches closer to me. “Sotoiletsmake you happy, Colin?”
I’m still grinning as my brows lift. “I’m pretty sure toilets makeeveryonehappy, Elle. They’re kind of important sometimes.”
Elle lifts her glass to hide her mouth with the side of her hand as a titter ekes out of her mouth. She’s so fucking cute, and Idolove toilet humor, and the entire mini-exchange makes me want to kiss her again something fierce.
I wonder if she’d let mereallydo that to her yet.
There’s no time like the present to find out, so I incline my face slightly closer to hers.
“Are you flirting with me, Elle?”
She lowers the champagne glass and pulls back her head. “No. I just think the bubbles are making me feel silly.” She laughs lightly. “But, hey! That’s better than looking like a hostage and making you lose your arm, right?”
I offer a single nod. “Right.”
Lingering close to her for a little longer, I continue weighing the pros and cons ofreallykissing her. Unfortunately, before I can come to any kind of decision, the opportunity dissipates into thin air.
“Colin!” Fortuna Reyes, the matriarch of the family hoots, and I whip my head around as if being caught red-handed.
I open my arm to welcome her in for a hug. “Hey there, Fortuna,” I greet her along with a kiss on the cheek, and despite spending half my life around this family, my pronunciation of anything the slightest bit Spanish isstillshit.
Fortuna squeezes me tightly. “How are you,cariño? I’m so glad you came!” She releases me to kiss both of my cheeks and then clasps my hands. “Does this mean you’re coming to the wedding, too?” She sucks in an excited gasp. “Oh, you should see the estate where Malachi is hosting us. It is aliteralpalace.”
