I’m looking to impress him, which is ridiculous. He’s seen me naked. He’s been inside me. There’s no reason that I need to impress him. Yet, here I am, trying anyway.
With a heavy sigh, I shake all of those thoughts out of my head. This night is important, and that should be my focus.
My doorbell rings right as I fasten my dress. No one should be here, so that’s confusing. Instead of running for the door, I take the time to slip on the strappy, black heels I bought for this occasion. They’re sexy and I feel sexy in them. Actually, tonight, I feel sexy as hell, and that has nothing to do with Keenan.
Then after the third ring, I finally open the door.
Keenan’s standing there in a dark suit—it’s not black tie but more cocktail—looking incredibly sexy. His hair is tamed to perfection, which is the exact opposite as it’d been the other night after I’d raked my fingers through it over and over again.
It’s his low whistle that has me snapping back to the present. Somehow, I needed to stop thinking about him naked tonight. Or at least until later.
“Fuck, Delilah. You’re stunning.” His hand slips around my hip right before he tugs me to him.
His lips meet mine before I can form a response. I brace myself on his shoulders to keep from falling but deep down, I know Keenan would never let me fall.
When he lets me up for air, my breath is coming so quickly that I should be embarrassed. Yet I’m not. This is his fault anyway. He did this to me, and I’m happy to say that he’s not unaffected. The hardness in his pants pushes against my stomach, and I know then that if we don’t get moving, we’re likely to either be very late or not show up at all, and that would be incredibly unacceptable.
“Thank you,” I finally get out though I still sound incredibly breathless, and there’s a burning in my cheeks that I hope he won’t notice.
I’m kidding myself because Keenan seems to notice everything.
“What’re you doing here?” I step back so that I can grab my small purse. If I didn’t leave soon, I’d be late, and all that work would fall on Cassie and Delaney. That’s not something I do.
“What do ya mean, what am I doing here?” He furrows his brows at me like I’m being purposely thick. “We’re going to the charity event. Clearly you know that because look at you.”
I roll my eyes at him, which I think he doesn’t appreciate unless the slight tightening of his jaw is lying to us all. “Yes. I know that. I thought we were meeting there.”
“Delilah,” he drops his head to the side, “do you think I’m the type of man to make a date and meet a woman there? Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should know better.”
Quickly, I wet my lips and my breath catches. He’s right. This I should’ve expected, yet him being here is still a surprise.
“Well, thank you,” I tell him instead of trying to explain more.
Before heading to his car, I make sure my house is locked and pull the door closed behind me.
Keenan is probably right. I should know better, but he and I are still figuring each other out. I’m touched by the effort he’s putting in and all, but it’s still surprising.
Keenan Gallagher is nothing like I thought he’d be. He’s kind to me, tender at moments, and clearly cares about my comfort. All of this when I’d been expecting someone with a much harder exterior.
Maybe that’s on me. Maybe my expectations were tainted by my father’s view of the world. Perhaps he’d formed some things in my mind more than I thought. Given how Keenan had grown up, I’d imagined this tough guy, which he is, but not with me.
I’m beginning to think that I don’t ever want to see that other guy.
Keenan had me get into the passenger side of his car then shut the door behind me before going around the car and climbing into the driver’s seat.
As we pull out, another familiar car turns in at the same time. I’d know his car anywhere, and this sinking feeling dips deep in my stomach.
“Shit,” I mutter.
“What’s the problem?”
“Nothing.” But I avoid looking over at him.
“Well, you could tell me now, or I can pull this car over until you do, or I can go back and see who that was.” The car begins to slow, and I know he’ll do exactly what he said.
“Don’t go back. Keep driving,” I tell him, then sigh. “It’s my father.”
“Why do you look like that’s a bad thing?”
