Dane

His jaw tensed, but he nodded and slid the sleeve of his jacket back on. Then he caught her watching his shoulders as he shrugged into it, and their eyes locked.

​​

They both jerked their heads forward.

Dane swallowed. Hard.

This was going to be so much harder than he'd anticipated.

He'd tortured himself for weeks thinking about what it would be like to watch her with another man when this day came. But in his mind, it had always been one guy. Preferably an old, ugly, poor man. But whatever. He'd braced himself to see her pawed on by some guy, but he never thought... He almost laughed at his own stupidity. Imagine if another man had been touching her when she was wearing that dress?

He would have become a true blooded killer.

He thought they'd solved that problem. He'd been quite smug about her idea—and the staff were surprisingly easy to convince. Or maybe they just didn't tell him they were angry. Either way, it hadn't been a difficult decision. And he'd thought the worst of the night's problems had been solved.

But now she was going to walk into a full night of the city's most eligible men, with no man on her arm. And in that dress.

Holy fucking shit.

"Dane, are you okay?" she whispered without turning her head.

He realized his hands were clenched to fists on his thighs and relaxed them immediately. "I'm fine."

She snorted, but didn't say anything.

Then the dress—that damned dress—shifted as they turned a corner and the panel behind the split slid off her thigh, leaving a sliver of her skin, from near-hip, all the way to her knee, revealed and two inches from him.

He actually groaned.

Lila looked at him, alarmed. He wondered what his face looked like. He felt like he was going insane. His fingers literally twitched to touch her.

"We only have about fifteen minutes to the convoy," the driver said, his voice seemed too loud.

"Excellent news," Dane said through his teeth.

"I just need to check in with the security team so they know I'm behind the others. Would you like me to close the barrier while I'm on the phone?"

"Yes," said Dane, at the same time Lila said, "No."

They looked at each other. Her cheeks pinked.

"Go ahead, Wes," she said, leaning forward. The sliver of skin got wider. Dane turned his head to look out the window. "Dane looks a little tense. I think he could use the quiet time."

Wes chuckled and saluted her before raising the barrier between them.

As soon as it slid into position Dane groaned and leaned forward, head in his hands.

*****

Lila

"What's wrong?" Lila gasped, reaching for him.

"Don't touch me!" he croaked. "I swear I will tear that dress off you if you so much as sneeze on me right now."

She froze, her fingers just inches from his shoulder, then pulled them back quickly. "You're not serious…are you?"

He turned his head enough to glare at her. "What. Were. You. Thinking?"

"About what?"

"That dress," his voice slid up an octave. He cleared his throat. "It's… you're…"

She looked down at herself. "Don't you like it?"

"Like it?" he hissed. "You look like… like… walking sex!"

She blinked and pulled her head back. "Did you just say I look like a prostitute?"

"No!" Dane groaned and sat back, pinching his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at her. "I called you walking sex. You look like… like… fuck, you're a wet dream, Lila."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Forgive me if I'm not at my most articulate, all the blood in my body has currently migrated South," he snapped.

Lila snorted, then clapped a hand over her mouth when he glared at her sideways.

"You think this is funny? One of the patrons tonight is Margaret Dilly. She's ninety four and still wears those dresses with the necks that cover you to the chin. She's also about four feet tall. I'm going to be pitching a tent right at her eye level."

Lila spluttered into her hand, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

"I'm not joking, Lila."

"I can't… I mean… stop…" she stammered, clutching her stomach. "Could you imagine the… the… headlines?" she cackled.

"Unfortunately, I can imagine very easily!"

"No, Dane," she gasped between giggles. "The HEAD lines," and she dissolved into belly laughter, clutching her chest—which was a good thing, because the way she was leaning forward he'd have gotten a good eyeful of her chest. Next to the thigh she was showing, he might have tipped over the edge and actually leapt on her.

"It's not funny," he repeated, but he had to look out the window on his side to stop his lips from twitching up.

"Are you kidding? It's hilarious! I can see the websites in the morning, DILLY DELIGHTED—"I DIDN'T BLOW IT!"

He'd never seen her laugh so outrageously. Her mouth wide open, tears rolling down her cheeks. She held her own stomach and shook with the abandon of it. He wanted to join her, but he was forced to cover his face as she dissolved into giggles, her head thrown back, hands on her stomach. Watching her writhe like that was giving him visions that would put them both in trouble.

"Stop, have to stop," she gasped, sucking in air and trying to stop herself laughing.

"At least we agree on one thing," he muttered—which just made Lila overcome with laughter again.

It took couple more minutes for her to calm down and get past the waves of giggles, during which time Dane was very careful to keep his eyes on the window of the car and the passing city streets.

"I'm going to ruin my make-up," she said finally, wiping her eyes carefully. "Look what you're doing to me," she snorted again, but stopped when he snapped his head to look at her.

She raised her eyebrows, but he didn't take his eyes off hers—he couldn't if he didn't want to embarrass himself. After a minute, she licked her lips and his gaze dropped to watch her tongue, then back to meet her eyes.

She took a deep breath and he made a noise in his throat.

"This was a mistake," he said. She frowned, but he kept going. "Every man in that room tonight is going to be sniffing around you like hound dogs on a scent." He forced himself to break her gaze and looked out the window again. "I thought it would be better if you didn't have a date but… fuck, Lila. They're going to be all over you. Not just one guy—all of them."

"Not if…not if you stay close," she said quietly. He cut her a look, and she hurried on. "Not just you, of course. I mean, if all of… all of us stick together."

He shook his head. "I guess we'll see."

"Dane," Lila said in a soft voice. He braced himself before turning. She was leaned slightly towards him, her huge eyes fixed on his, soft wisps of her hair drifting around her face. She was beautiful. He swallowed. "No matter what happens tonight, you're the one I'll be thinking of. Every moment."

His breath caught. He moved his hand to reach for her, unable to resist. But the electric hum of the barrier between them and the driver was the only warning he had as it began to slide down and Wes's smiling face was revealed. "Okay, we're all set, boss!"

Dane dropped his hand to the seat between he and Lila, focusing Wes in the rearview mirror. "Yes?"

"The others are about five minutes away. They're already parked up. We'll joint the back of the line. Get your photo smile on!"

Dane would have rolled his eyes as Wes's cheeriness, but it was a good cover right now, so he nodded and forced a smile. "Thank you, Wes."

"Do you have hours for tonight, Mr. Daniels?" Wes asked and Dane turned his mind to making small talk with his employee. But he lifted his smallest finger from the seat next to him to find Lila's soft skin where the dress had fallen to reveal it.

He couldn't look. Every molecule in his body was tuned to her. If he saw that again right now, he risked losing control. But this little indulgence he could give himself.

Slowly, slowly, he let his finger trail along the side of her thigh.

She shivered and turned to look out the window on her side.

Dane couldn't help but smile.

By the time they'd found the other others and started on the final few blocks to the Museum, it was Lila whose cheeks were flushed and her mouth slightly open. And even though this night was going to suck, Dane couldn't help but be just a little bit pleased that she wasn't resistant to him, either.

He didn't know how he was going to walk around tonight without waving a flag of his desire for her, but somehow he'd manage it.

He'd do anything to keep her safe.

And that thought sobered him enough to ease the tightening in his groin.