[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

tightened his grip. "Think you could plan some time to meet me in the bathroom
later? It wouldn't take very long. Might even loosen you up a bit."
He leered at me suggestively while his buddies behind him egged him on and let out a
few wolf whistles.
The man was a full foot taller and had about a hundred pounds on me, but I was no
damsel in distress. Leveling him with a glare, I lifted my knee just enough to put some
pressure on a certain sensitive area.
"If you don't take your hands off me in the next five seconds," I said icily, "You can
plan on spending the rest of the night icing your junk. Got it?"
:&
He winced when I nudged my knee forward a fraction of an inch and quickly dropped
his arms.
"Bitch," he muttered, stepping back into line while his friends slapped him on the
back and trash talked.
I turned away, looking for a little space, and ran smack into the solid wall of Edward's
chest. His arms lifted to steady me and this time, I didn't mind being held just a little.
Histouch was gentle, not groping and it made me feel safe and protected instead of
trapped.
When I glanced up at him, his gaze was fixed in a glare above my head. Then his eyes
lowered to mine, searching for one moment before they shifted from anger to
amused admiration.
"Nicely handled, Swan," he said, giving my shoulders a squeeze before lowering his
hands. "I'm impressed."
"Oh, yeah, well you can't grow up with a cop for a dad and not learn how to handle a
few drunks," I stammered, embarrassed that he'd obviously seen the whole scene
play out.
"No white knights for you, huh?"
"I can take care of myself," I insisted, straightening my spine a little.
He looked down at me quietly for a minute with that look in his eyes that made me
insanely curious about what he was thinking. He opened his mouth, then closed it
again.
"You about ready to go?" he finally asked, scratching at the back of his neck and
glancing behind him at doors of the ballroom.
"Yeah, I just need to let Kate know to cue the DJ," I said, slipping my phone out of my
pocket and shooting off a message to my assistant to let her know we were good to go.
"Hey, Swan?"
"Yeah?" I responded distractedly, tapping out the last couple letters and hitting send.
When I looked up, Edward was looking back at me with a wicked smirk.
"You smokin' a doobie or something in the bathroom?" he teased, leaning in to sniff
at my hair. "I could get high standing too close to you."
:&
"Very funny," I grumbled, glancing back at my phone when it beeped.
I didn't tell him that I could get high standing too close to him, too, and it had nothing
whatsoever to do with drugs and everything to do with him.
x-x-x
Surprisingly enough, things ran pretty smoothly once the bridal party entered the
hall. The food was good and service went off without a hitch, keeping the crowd of
people content and happily stuffing their faces. The best man's speech was short and
sweet, leaving a little extra wiggle room for Chet's last minute add on, who did indeed
ramble on incessantly. I even found a minute to slip away and spritz myself with
some body wash to drown out the smell from the party bus that clung to my clothes.
I tried to sit and grab a bite to eat but was far too restless, paranoid that things were
going too well. Something had to go wrong, it always did.
I urged the rest of my team to sneak a plate and sit at one of the back tables, along
with a few of the other vendors. It had been a long day already for all of us and they'd
more than earned a portion of over-priced filet mignon.
While I strolled around the room, keeping a lookout for anything that went awry, I
found my gaze drifting back to the vendor table far more than necessary. Edward was
sitting with his assistant and my team, shoveling down his meal while keeping
everyone laughing with some sort of funny anecdote. More than anything I wanted to
go sit and just listen to him talk, to hear the words that went with the expressions
playing across his face and the gestures of his hands.
But I was far too jittery to sit still, so instead I paced, likely insuring the need for an
intensive pedicure the following day since my feet were already screaming their
protest. Downtime was never any good for my nerves at these things. If I was busy, I
didn't have time to worry about what could potentially go wrong.
Finally the time arrived for Lauren and Tyler to cut their cake and I willingly jumped
at the task, making sure everything was in place and ushering the bride and groom
over to their edible masterpiece. I glanced back toward the table, looking for Edward,
only to find him a few feet away, ready to go. He took the reins out of my hands,
talking the couple through where to stand and whose hand to put on top of the long
knife. He snapped away while the happy couple smashed cake and icing all over each
other's faces, a gesture I never really took to be funny and playful. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]