Well, fuck, what did I do?
Surely, a nice place like this had one of those family restrooms around here.
I spun on my heels, then bounced off a solid chest dressed in a black suit. Tilting precariously on my stilettos, I flailed a moment, but a firm grip on my elbow steadied me. My heart stuttered with my breath—which was already shaky at best—as I took exactly five seconds to scan him from the shiny oxfords to the long legs, trim hips, broad shoulders, and finally to the sharp angles of the man who now held me rooted in place with his stare much more so than his hand.
“You okay?” he asked in a deep voice that matched his dark hair and piercing eyes.
I nodded, because, yeah, words …
One corner of his lips twitched, and I snapped mine closed. Jesus, I’d seen handsome men before. I shook myself into common sense and gently extricated myself from his hold.
He indicated to his left with a jut of his smooth chin and a glance in the same direction. “The women’s room is the next one over.”
“Right,” I breathed.
Wait. He thought … I quirked a grateful smile as I nodded, then rushed off to find a single restroom. I didn’t know if he was left wondering why I didn’t enter the women’s but didn’t care either. That sexy man had been so close to me I could smell his aftershave, and he’d thought I was female.
Score.
On the other side of the hotel’s entrance was, in fact, a family restroom. Once I’d finished my business, I ran as fast and as ladylike as my heels would allow to let Savannah know what had happened. Bet or not, pissed at her and Morgan or not, she was truly an amazing artist and should feel good about that.
Plus, there was now a hot guy I could entertain my imagination with for the rest of the event.
Wouldshebesomeonemy parents would approve of?
The young woman practically sprinted down the hall, her long legs taking step after step with surprising grace, considering the speed. I shook my head and returned my attention to the matter at hand: getting away from my mother. She couldn’t follow me into the men’s room, but she could send someone else after me.
Thankfully, I had the space to myself as I splashed cold water on my face, then stared at the man in the reflection. Thirty-four years old, decent-looking, so I’d been told, a growing financial portfolio that had made me a millionaire in my twenties, and yet still under the heel of my parents.
“Pathetic,” I whispered while the last of the water rivulets dropped from my jaw. I washed my hands, then dried them and my face before taking a deep breath and heading to the affair.
Mother and Father loved these sorts of things, but their reasons were different than my own. I didn’t mind getting dressed up or the indulgence of it all. More importantly, though, were the good deeds we could do at these events. I was lucky to have had the privileges my family’s old money provided. Theymight’ve seen the bottom line, the tax break, but I enjoyed the changes we could make with donations to charities such as these.
“Exactly. Stop moping about your fortunate lot in life, Luke,” I muttered quietly as I reentered the grand banquet room at the hotel. We’d been here several times for events. I was confident in my surroundings and in my image, if nothing else.
Head high, I caught Mother’s eye as she spoke with a group of older women who no doubt had daughters or granddaughters she was fielding for my future bride. She nodded once, as if to sayyes, come here, and as much as I didn’t want to, I did. I followed. I obeyed.
“Darling, there you are,” Mother said, hooking her small hands around my elbow. To anyone else, she appeared maternal, loving, but we both knew it was so I wouldn’t scurry off too soon.
I kissed her temple, then nodded to the group of ladies.
“Of course, you all know my oldest, Luke,” she said to the smiling women. “Mrs. Walker was just telling us about her youngest daughter, Leanna, who graduated from Brown this last spring.”
A hint if I’d ever heard one.
“Yes,” the woman presumed to be Mrs. Brown said. “We’re so happy to have her home. Her father and I hated her being so far away.” She leaned toward the center of everyone and added, “A degree in political science won’t help her find a husband.” As if it were a scandalous thing a man would find fault with.
I said nothing, of course. I was the ornament here.
“There, there, Celia,” another woman said with her nose stuck in the air. “Leanna is a lovely young woman. I’m sure the ideas floating in her head will fade when the right man sweeps her off her feet.”
On cue, they turned toward me.
“Yes, absolutely,” I said. “I’m sure the right man will be simply intrigued with Leanna’s conversation and educated mind.”
The women tittered as I blinked between them. With one discussion among Mother’s so-called friends, one would assume women’s rights had never happened.
“Where would a man be without a good woman behind him?” another woman said.
