Her eyes bugged as she read it over. Maybe she wasn’t aJournalreader, but she knew the name, just like most people in this country. “Yes, sir. Mr. Black. I’ll relay the message.”
“Laney,” Derek tried again. “Who exactly is this guy?”
It was the sound of his voice, or maybe just that entitled tone, that finally yanked my girl out of her daze (and also made me want to haul this asshole out of the restaurant and teach him a lesson on appropriate tone of voice for speaking to Delaney Fisher).
Jesus Christ. I was Ronan Black. I was a lot of things, but protective had never been one of them.
What was this girl doing to me?
“Ronan and I are just going to take a second,” she informed everyone, including her ex, before stepping out from under my arm.
It was everything I could do not to tuck her right back in. Her curvy, compact body justfitthere, and I didn’t care for this sudden empty feeling without her.
Instead, I allowed her to tow me through the restaurant and down a hallway past the bathrooms.
“Looking for the emergency exit?” I joked. “I think Megan was just baiting your ex, but I’ll take you up on the offer if you?—”
“Shut up.” Laney whirled around. “What is wrong with you?”
I held my hands out. “Doctors have been trying to figure it out for years, but no one has a clear answer. Best guess is some form of complex PTSD with a dash of a personality disorder or two. Why do you ask?”
Laney pursed her lips in a way that wasverydistracting. Goddamn, they were suckable little candy drops. “What are you even doing here?”
I ignored her question in favor of getting a better look at her. With a draping neckline and calf-length hem, her dress wasn’t remotely as revealing as the green thing she’d worn in Vegas, but it fit her like a damn glove. “Has anyone said you look fucking stunning tonight? Because you do. That dress, seriously. Chef’s kiss. I knew you were beautiful, but?—”
I was interrupted when Laney shoved me against the wall with a strength that I wouldn’t have expected from someone that small. Like a flea, this one.
“Cut the crap, Ronan. You might be able to charm Megan’s bridesmaids with cheap compliments and dumb jokes, but none of that works on me. I’m not asking again—what are you doing here?”
We stared at each other for a long moment, and I decided not to question why Tinker Bell calling me on my shit was the biggest turn on I’d experienced in probably ten years. Maybe ever.
“I—” I opened my mouth, armed with another joke, but something in those deep green eyes stopped me. I exhaled under her touch. “I came here for you. Obviously.”
She removed her hand from my chest and stepped back. “Why?”
I wanted to grab that hand and put it back. Something feltwrongwhen we weren’t touching, though I wasn’t ready to figure out what.
Instinct is a funny thing.
“I was in town on business. Was planning to find you tomorrow, but decided I didn’t want to wait that long.”
That adorable scowl returned. “What business?”
“Wife business.” I scowled right back and was rewarded by her mouth falling open again. I smiled. “If you keep looking at me like that with your mouth half open, I’m going to have to kiss you. Fair warning, Ari.”
To my disappointment, her jaw closed with a snap. “You are incorrigible.”
I shrugged. “No news there.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you found me.”
With a huff, I leaned back against the wall. “I didn’t stalk you; I swear. But imagine my surprise when I got home to find that my location had been shared with ‘Wifey’s Phone’ and vice versa.” I nodded toward the little purse hanging from her shoulder. “Go ahead and check. You probably did it when we were in Vegas.”
Yes, I was lying through my teeth. No, I didn’t feel good about it. But she was already too close to tossing me out on my ass, and I hadn’t even gotten to the main reason I was here.
Luckily, she seemed satisfied, if not totally happy, with my answer. “That doesn’t explain why you came here tonight, though. Please. Just be straight with me.”
Laney looked up at me with an odd kind of weariness. I didn’t like it at all.