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“Time to work, huh?” he asks with a laugh as he pulls away and positions me back at his side. I nod, digging my phone out of my bag.

“I guess so.”

Willa:

T-Minus thirty minutes, boss lady.

Where are you?

“Everything okay?” Lucas asks, peeking over my shoulder as I read Willa’s text and I nod.

“Yeah. My assistant is down there now getting things set up and I need to look things over one last time before guests start showing up.”

He grabs my hand and laces his fingers with mine as the elevator doors slide open. “You just do what you need to do, babe, and I’ll follow along.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit and get a drink?” I ask as we approach the ballroom. “I think the bar is probably already open.”

“Nope. Told you, I’m not letting any of these fuckers near you.”

“Lucas,” I whisper with a laugh. “No one is going to be looking at me.”

His brow arches and he pulls me closer. “Are you kidding me? It’s a shame I didn’t bring my gun.”

“What?”

“Shit,” he hisses with a wince. “Yeah, we’ll talk about that later, okay?”

I open my mouth to protest as I spot Ronald and Willa crossing the ballroom to talk to me and I sigh.

“Yeah, we will talk about it later.”

“Miss Dawson, you look stunning,” Ronald says as he reaches us and I swear I hear Lucas growl behind me and I barely resist the urge to glare at him.

“Thank you, Ronald. How are things going down here?”

He nods and I glance over at Willa as she smirks at me and winks.

“Very well. We have just one little problem…”

“What?”

Willa steps forward and places her hand on my arm. “The band isn’t here yet but I’ve called them and they promised me that they’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes?” I hiss. “We’re going to have guests showing up in fifteen.”

“It’s not ideal,” she answers, speaking in a calm tone that I think is supposed to tame my nerves but it doesn’t work. This gala is one of the biggest events I’ve ever thrown and I still managed to pull it together with a shortened time table and after getting into a car accident so if the band tanks this thing, I’m going to ruin them.

“Get one or two of our regular bands on the phone and see if anyone’s available as a back-up,” I instruct Willa and she nods before running off to make phone calls. I turn back to Ronald and suck in a breath.

“Please tell me there are no more problems.”

He shakes his head. “No, ma’am. Everything else has been running smoothly.”

“Thank you, Ronald.” Turning back to Lucas, I sigh and he pulls me into his arms.

“Anything I can do to help?”

I shake my head. “No.”