“Jesse?”
With no small amount of effort, I dragged my attention away from her to refocus on the man in front of me. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”
He continued, unaware of the fact that I’d completely lost track of the conversation, still acutely conscious of the exact point in the room where she stood.
This was a problem. A significant one.
Last night had changed something. Before, I’d been able to compartmentalize my awareness of her, ignore it when I had to, but now, distance felt irrelevant. She was so completely under my skin that I couldfeelher even when she wasn’t touching me.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” my father’s said, his voice drifting across the crowd. “If I could have your attention please. Jesse, Elizabeth. Where are you? Will you both join me?”
Conversations tapered off almost immediately into a low hum before they quieted altogether.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I murmured to the guy I’d been talking to, heading across the room to her before we made our way to my father together.
He stood near the center of the room with a glass of champagne in his hand. When we reached him, he nodded and turned back to the crowd. “First, I would like to welcome you all to our home. Thank you for joining us for this momentous occasion.”
He paused for a moment to smile at Eliza and me. “Tonight, it gives us great pleasure to be able to celebrate the engagement of Jesse to Lady Elizabeth Roderick.” He turned slightly toward her. “Eliza, you’ve already proven yourself to be an extraordinary addition to our family, capable, poised, and much more patient than my son deserves.”
A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd. I inclined my head just enough to acknowledge it, the appropriate response, but it wasn’t me he was referring to. It was Jesse.
Beside me, however, Eliza didn’t know that. She just smiled, as polite and composed as ever.
Well, except for last night. She sure wasn’t composed then. Fuck. Do not think about that right now, Will. You’re just making it worse for yourself.
“Jesse,” my father said, shifting his attention back to me, but I saw the glimmer of recognition in his eyes. He knew he was speaking to the wrong son. “It’s not often that we’ve seen you make decisions that carry this much weight, but we’re proud of you, son. Let’s hope you don’t ruin it.”
More laughter rang out and I smiled on cue, but if the real Jesse was here, it was possible my dad had just pissed him off so much that he’d just leave. When Dad finally lifted his glass to conclude, I was almost optimistic that maybe he’d even somehow done that for me. That maybe he’d wanted to piss Jesse off so he wouldn’t go through with it after all.
“Together,” he said. “You represent something special. Not just a partnership, but a lasting commitment to your families and the future.”
Internally, I groaned, and if Jesse had heard him, I knew it would be the same for him. Because that had been the clincher, that casual but barbed expectation neatly packaged and handed to us in front of an audience.
“To Jesse and Eliza.”
“To Jesse and Eliza,” the room echoed.
Glasses clinked in a soft, collective chime and then, of course, all eyes shifted to us. I turned to her slowly, prepared this time, at least. I reached for her without thinking now, my hand finding her waist like it was second nature.
Her breathing hitched just slightly and a smile spread on my lips as I held her gaze. “Are you ready?”
She searched my gaze for a beat. Then some hooligan in the crowd shouted, “Don’t keep us waiting, Jess. Jeez.”
I almost snapped out a sarcastic response, but instead, I did what my brother would’ve done, tugging her to me and sealingmy mouth over hers. When James had made his toast, it had been early days yet, but this kiss was more deliberate. Slower, with much more meaning behind it.
Eliza didn’t hesitate this time either, which was real fucking problem, because she leaned into me like this wasn’t complicated at all. Like it was a real celebration of us. My thumb shifted slightly against her side, a small, unconscious movement as I lost myself in her, but she felt it.
I knew she did by the way her breathing changed and how her hand caught lightly on my sleeve, holding on to me. The room disappeared, or maybe I just stopped paying attention to it, but for one more crazy, reckless moment, I thought that maybe I could get away with this for just a little bit longer.
By the time I finally lifted my head away from hers, I was still clinging to that hope—until I looked up and my gaze suddenly landed on him. Leaning casually against the bar like he hadn’t just detonated every fragile thread holding this together was Jesse.
Late as always, he watched us with a glass of scotch in his hand, smiling when his eyes met mine. It was a slow and knowing smirk, his glass lifting in a silent toast meant only for me.
Every muscle in my body locked. I was about to walk across the room, drag him outside, and tell him in no uncertain terms that this had become so much more than just me covering for him. But before I could act on it, he was disappearing into the crowd, gone like he’d never even been there at all.
CHAPTER 30
ELIZA
