The whole point of bringing Petra to this wedding was to give Dolly reassurance that I’d found someone to spend the rest of my life with, but now that the moment has arrived, I find myself incapable of lying to my grandmother. Especially about my relationship with Petra, something that feels purer and more honest to me than anything I’ve ever experienced.
I swallow hard. “She’s young. I don’t know if she’s ready to settle down.”
Especially with me.I leave that part out.
Petra chooses that moment to seek me out, her energy verging on nervous until she spots me, her shoulders relaxing. “I know a girl in love when I see one,” Dolly remarks.
I wish I could believe what my grandmother is saying.
But I’ve gone so long believing myself unlovable that…I can’t. Not completely.
Not when this whole thing started as a job. Something I hired her to do.
To give me the girlfriend treatment.
I’m obviously reading too much into the affection she’s showing me. After all, she’s terrified of me getting her pregnant, probably because the idea of being tied to me sounds like the end of the world.
“Don’t leave any words unspoken, Barry,” says Dolly. “You don’t want to have regrets. Not when you’ve found something special.”
“Yeah,” I manage around the tightness in my throat.
She elbows me. “Go ask her to dance. Everyone else has occupied her long enough.”
“Damn right,” I growl. “Can’t they see she’s exhausted? She’sswaying.”
As if on cue, Petra looks at me again, signaling me with a flurry of blinks, and I practically lunge in her direction, heartened by my grandmother’s laugh behind me. “Excuse me,” I thunder as soon as I reach the group of women commandeering my date. “If you want to talk to her any more about makeup, I suggest you make an appointment.”
Everyone splits.
Quickly.
She looks up at me and sniffles. “I missed you.”
My knee joints feel loose, like I might drop like a stone. “I missed you, too.”
She presses her cheek to the center of my chest. “Can we go somewhere to be alone, please?”
A pulse booms in my balls. “Back to the room?”
“I don’t think we should leave the party so early,” she says, chewing her lip and looking around at the festivities, which are indeed still in full swing. “Maybe just…a private spot? Where you can kiss me for a little while?”
I make a harsh, eager sound. “There’s a…” God, I can barely speak, I’m breathing so hard. “A small lounge through that curtain. In case they need additional space, I think. For a party. But no one is in there now.”
She strokes her hand up and down between my pecs. “Perfect.” The music is muffled in my ears, conversations bleeding into a dull roar of noise as I twine our fingers together,guiding her through the crowd toward that black velvet curtain. As soon as we’re on the other side of it, the noise level drops significantly, the near-dark enveloping us. I passed this room earlier on the way back from the bathroom. There is a small, unmanned bar on one side, tables and chairs on the other. A cushy leather bench runs the perimeter of the space, and Petra tugs me that way now.
A moment later, I’m being urged onto the wide leather bench, Petra straddling my lap in her silky little dress, the straps slipping down her arms.
“I missed you,” she whispers again, perching her hands on my shoulders.
Scooting closer until her pussy is nestled against my bulge, her head falling back on a throaty moan, as if she’s been craving the feel of me.
Our mouths lock in a long, winding kiss, my hands climbing her smooth thighs and sneaking beneath the hem of her dress, palms working her ass cheeks, the kiss steadily growing heated. So heated that I have to break for air. So…loving, too. Isn’t it?
Am I imagining the affection she’s pouring into every stroke of her tongue?
“Petra,” I rasp.
Her eyes search mine. Hopeful? “Yes?”
