Aw, who am I kidding? It’s a four-way tie. With naked as the frontrunner.
“You look damn beautiful,” he says quietly, the necklace glinting between his fingers. “Come here, wife.”
He steps behind me, and my breath immediatelysticks in my throat. I lift my hair without him asking.
His knuckles brush the back of my neck as he drapes the string of diamonds over my skin. “Hold still,” he murmurs.
As if I could move. As if my knees aren’t betraying me.
The clasp clicks, but his hands linger. Thumbs sweep along the sides of my throat. Possessive. Protective. Claiming. He exhales against my shoulder, and I feel it all the way down my spine. “You are so fucking mine.”
“Are you hard?” I push my ass into his hips.
“When I touch you? I’m immediately hard.” He scoops an arm around my waist, holding me in place as he firmly arches his pelvis into my backside, showing me just how hard he is.
I practically swoon with lust.
“We have a long night.” I grip my purse and clack my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “But if you need a quickie, we can do it in the lounge.”
“I have the best fucking wife in the world,” he says, and steers me out of our apartment.
Chapter 46
Cormac
The minute I step into that ballroom, it becomes all too clear who will get more attention tonight. Scarlett’s sleek black number might as well have arrived on its own, under a spotlight.
I’ve kissed every inch of her and have gotten lost in all those curves now on display. I do take pride in the way she walks beside me like she was born to be on my arm. Chin high and smiling. Every jealous bastard in the room looks at her like they want a shot at her next. That if I were to let her go, she’d be quickly scooped up. That thought makes me dizzy.
Those jewels I clasped around her neck glitter against her throat like a collar. Like a warning. Scarlett Ford belongs to me.
She only falters and tightens her hand around my elbow the moment she spots her father. He doesn’t greet his daughter with a smile. Bradley Ford’s lips thin in disapproval, and he looks at me like how dare I let his daughter walk around with her tits practically hanging out.
“You wore that last year,” is all he murmurs to her, likethat’sthe bigger crime. “I told you then I didn’t like it. Didn’t like how Pierce made you twirl for his friends.”
Last year. She wore thatlastyear.WithLangston. She fucking twirled for his friends?
My molars grind, but I keep smiling. I won’t jump to conclusions or make a scene. I’m getting better and better at controlling myself. I just keep breathing. Keep pretending I deserve this award.
As bad luck would have it, we’re seated at the Langston table, and Scarlett looks shaken all over again.Like the day he ruined her life. But with her father on her right and me on the left, and the presentation starting soon, I squeeze her hand under the table and hope that pushes all the anxiety away.
“We meet again,” Pierce Langston says, standing behind us, holding a scotch.
Uncomfortable at the height imbalance, I stand and place my hand on Scarlett’s shoulders, making sure he sees my thumb caress her back. The way a man does when he’s been intimate with every inch of a woman. Pierce may or may not love her, but he clearly wanted to own her.
The diamond choker around her neck and my possessive touch are a slap in his smug face.
I won, motherfucker.
“Is this your way of apologizingto my wife?” I motion to the table. “Giving her husband the best seat in the house.”
Langston arrogantly throws his head back and laughs. “Absolutely. Now you won’t miss a thing.” He leans in. “And neither will anyone else.”
What’s he getting at? Miss what?
“Congratulations on the award.” He swirls the ice in his scotch and says with a slur, “I rallied the committee votes for you to have it.”
My heart fucking stops.