"Oh?" she replied. "Now you have me curious, Mr.Walsh."
"Yeah, he does that," Imurmured.
His hand shifted to my waist, and that would've been well and good if it hadn't tugged me even closer. My cheek was pressed to his chest and I was drowning in the scentofhim.
"Any evening I get with my Alexandra is special,"hesaid.
Despite the fact I hadn't been drinking anything, I choked on the wordsmy Alexandra. I'd never been referred to that way before. It didn't even sound like my name, and I didn't know how to file it away with the rest of this ass-grabbingcharmer.
"But there's something extraordinary about escorting a beautiful woman to a ball." He glanced down at me, smiling. "And then escortingherhome."
Mrs. Chapelton leaned toward me with a conspiratorial wink. "Hold onto this one," she said. "Hold on tight." Her gaze pinged between us and she offered a warm smile. "I'd stay and chat but I just spotted Doctor Gupta and Doctor Garritty. They look terribly lonely. What will I do with all of these bachelors?" She pointed at us. "I'll be expecting you both atthegala."
Neither of us moved as she stepped away, her gauzy white sundress floating around her legs as she traversed the yard in search of single men to harangue. Riley turned his head, and his lips were on my templeagain.
"I think we passed, as far as she's concerned," he whispered, the words spoken into my skin. "But there's an audience over your shoulder." His hold on me tightened when I shifted. "Give it a minute, would you? If you run away from me now, the jig will be up,Honeybee."
"At least tell me who's in that audience," Idemanded.
"That crew you've been watching," Riley answered. "The one from thepatio."
Nodding, I traced the line of his suit coat from shoulder to wrist. "This is fitted within an inch of your life," I murmured. "How can youevenmove?"
"I'm a little bulkier than I was when I had it tailored," he replied with a shrug. That shrug tucked me closer to his chest, and now I was stifling sighs. "I've been lifting more thanusual."
"Any particular reason?" I asked. My hand was on Riley's forearm, and the pretense of inspecting his suit had long since dropped. Based on his smirk, he knewit,too.
"Needed to funnel some pent-up energy. Working out keeps me from doing irresponsible things," he said, his breath ghosting over my ear. "Speaking of irresponsible things, what would that douche waffle intern of yours have tosaynow?"
I figured he was squeezing my ass for some expressive purpose but I couldn't think beyond a screaming desire to have his hands all over me, everywhere. "I don't know," Iadmitted.
"Give me your phone," Riley ordered. There was an authority in his voice that had me reaching into my wristlet without thinking betterofit.
"Are you planning to call him up?" I asked, handing over the device. "Haveachat?"
"Definitely not, no." He tapped the camera icon and switched it to selfie mode. Holding the phone out, he snapped several photos of us. "Smile like you want him to know he didn't win," he whispered. "Smile like youmeanit."
And I did. Imeantit.
"Now post one of those on your social media. Wherever you have lots of mutual friends and you know he'll see it," Riley said, handing the phone back. "Or just text it to the fucker, and tell him my dick wins for lengthandgirth."
I slapped a hand over my mouth to contain a burst of hystericallaughter.
"I don't know what you're laughing about," Riley murmured. "We're discussing empiricalfacts."
"Can't be sure about that," I said as I posted the best image to Instagram and Facebook. "Haven't examined all theevidence."
"You just tell me when you'd like to get your hands on the evidence. It'll be available to you, Alex." He shifted, his hold on my backside loosening. "They went inside,"hesaid.
"Mmhmm," I murmured, stowing my phone. "Time to show off the Chief's model boats. Or yachts, orwhatever."
Riley nodded and patted my ass one last time. "All right, Honeybee. Mission accomplished.Fallback."
It should've been easier to disentangle myself from Riley but it quickly turned complicated when one of the decorative buttons on the waist of my dress caught on his suit coat. "You're stuck on me," I said. "Don't move. I don't want to ripyoursuit."
"There are lot of things I want to say about that right now," he murmured. "Gonna keep it all tomyself."
"Wise," I replied. "Here, you go that direction. I've almostgotit."
