Eve had always thought she’d feel happy when she finally lost her shit and went off on her parents, but she didn’t. She just felt relieved. And a little sad. And so very done with all of it. “And Aspen doesn’t need your connections; she has more than enough of her own.”
“Nobody has connections like these,” her mother retorted snobbishly. “There are four Senators and two-dozen Fortune-500 CEOs or their heirs in this room. There’s no way apilot,” she sneered the word like it was something nasty stuck on the bottom of her shoe, “should ever find themself in company like this.”
“You know…” Eve sighed and shook her head. “I’ve always hoped that, one day, you would choose my happiness over your precious connections and bald-faced power grabs, but I see now that it’ll never happen.” Eve looked at Aspen, and answered theplease let me jump inthat was clear in her expression with a short nod even as she continued, “Rest assured, Mother, that Iwill not be disrespecting you and Father next year by blowing off your events, because I won’t be attending.”
“You won’t—” Elizabeth glared at Aspen as she joined them. “This is all your doing. I knew you were trouble.”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Aspen said, her tone conveying that she felt the amount due was less than zero, “you brought this on yourself.”
Warmth spread through Eve as Aspen wrapped an arm around her waist. “She’s right,” she told her mother as she leaned into Aspen’s side.
“And, for the record,” Aspen said as she squeezed her lightly, “Eve wasn’t exaggerating. I don’t need anything from your pitiful menagerie of so-called ‘connections’.”
Eve didn’t bother to hide her smirk at her mother’s sharp gasp of affront. “If you hadn’t been so busy being outraged, again, at the reminder that I’m bi, you might have thought a bit more about the fact that she’s Aspen Collier-West.”
Elizabeth huffed indignantly. “West. East. I fail to see your point.”
“My point, Mother, is that you should have done your due diligence. If you had, you’d have realized that, while she is a pilot, she’s also an heir to West Enterprises.” Eve leaned her head on Aspen’s shoulder and added, “And, luckily, she knows that I’m not afterhermoney.”
She laughed at the way her mother’s eyes widened as it all sank in. Never in her life had she seen her struck so completely dumb.
It was fucking fantastic.
And with nothing left to say to her mother, she smiled up at Aspen, feeling more energized than she ever had after a conversation with either of her parents. “Darling, what do you say we get back to our friends?”
Aspen grinned and winked at her before dropping a quick, chaste kiss that Eve didn’t doubt for a second was a silent middle finger to her mother, who was staring at them in shock as she no doubt tried to process what had just happened. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”
“Nanotech?” Lydia groaned. “Seriously?” She arched a brow at Jack as she set the bottle of Dom Pérignon she’d just emptied into her glass beside the two other empties in the middle of the table. “Did you learnnothingfromBig Hero Six?”
Jack giggled. He’d put away at least one of the empty bottles on his own. “Dude, if I could figure out how to get these little fuckers to fly, I’d lose my goddamn mind, but that’s not the point. My point is—”
Aspen missed whatever Jack’s point was because she was distracted by the feeling of Eve’s hand sliding along her thigh and soft lips brushing against her cheek. Her breath caught as Eve’s breath danced over her ear, the stream slow, warm, and purposeful in a way that told her Eve was doing it on purpose and knew exactly what it would do to her.
“I want to dance with you,” Eve murmured silkily.
Aspen gulped as Eve nuzzled closer to nip at her earlobe. Eve had been riding high on confidence and low on fucks ever since her run-in with her mother, but the hand that was now drifting dangerously high up her leg added an all-new dimension to things. Three more inches and Eve’s fingers would be on her clit right here in the middle of a crowded ballroom. She grabbed Eve’s wrist to trap her hand against her thigh, and turned to her with a pleading look that begged her to behave. When theireyes locked, her breath was stolen from her lungs by the impish delight that danced in Eve’s gaze.
Yeah, Eve knew exactly what she was doing, and she was enjoying the fuck out of herself while she did it.
“Goddamn, Eve. What are you doing to her over there?” Lydia hooted loudly. “Aspen looks like she’s two seconds from fucking you right here on the table!”
Eve’s eyes crinkled, and she stole a quick kiss before responding, “Who’s to say that I wouldn’t be the one fucking her?”
Heat bloomed low in Aspen’s belly, and she squeezed her legs together as a rush of wetness crashed between her thighs.
Jack snorted and held up his half-empty champagne flute in a toast. “Confidence looks good on you, Eve.”
Aspen licked her lips and nodded. He wasn’t wrong. It really, really did.
“Thanks.” Eve winked at him before turning back to Aspen with a sultry smile. “Dance with me?”
“I’d love to.” Aspen tugged Eve’s hand from between her legs and laced their fingers together as she stood. “We’re gonna go dance,” she told their friends as Eve led her toward the dance floor without a backward glance.
She heard Jack and Lydia scramble after them, but paid the pair no attention as Eve stopped them in an open pocket of space toward the inner third of the floor. She licked her lips as Eve shifted her grip, so their hands were clasped instead of interlocked as she tucked them between their chests and turned to face her.
Eve’s smile was soft as she asked, “Is this okay?”
“It’s perfect,” Aspen replied as she wrapped her free hand around Eve’s hip to pull her close. She kissed her softly as Eve’s left hand slid along her arm to cup her shoulder and complete their hold as they began to sway lightly with the music.She nuzzled Eve’s cheek, letting their breaths mingle against each other’s lips as she stared into her eyes that shone like blue sapphires in the light of the vintage crystal chandeliers overhead. Her heart pressed against the wall of her chest like it was trying to give itself to Eve, and she sighed, “You’re perfect,” as she angled her head to kiss Eve again.
