going to meet up with Harper and Elizabeth. We’re going to make it a girl’s night.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.” I made a mental note to arrange a lunch date with Rose. It seemed like our baby brothers needed our guidance when it came to love. Everybody in the family knew Jude had been a mess over Harper since high school. Levi had always kept his feelings to himself, but according to Rose, Becca would be his end game. I kind of agreed; they used to be adorable together as kids.
After a few minutes, her hands in my hair became too relaxing and I couldn’t focus on matchmaking anymore. I fell into a peaceful state of calm as Becca styled my hair and applied my makeup. I heard my mother bustling about upstairs as she got ready, but it didn’t distract me as I contemplated what would be the most effective way to communicate to Motherfucking Tom that I would no longer be kowtowing to his every whim.
“You’re ready!” Becca handed me a hand mirror with a flourish.
I barely recognized myself. “Who even am I?” I whispered to Becca.
“Take some time with it,” she encouraged. Her smile was huge as I studied my face. “This is my absolute favorite part of the job. You’re gorgeous, Violet. I just exaggerated it.”
“Holy crap, Becca. You are very good at what you do,” I conceded as I tried unsuccessfully to stop gawking at myself.
27
Jake
“I don’t care what time it is. I need coffee now.”
I did a double take, then a triple take, then I just flat out stared once I realized it absolutely was my Violet being escorted by Asher and Cade up the long black carpet that led to the entrance of the Sweetbriar Hotel where I stood greeting guests.
She was beyond beautiful tonight. My breath had left my body at the first sight of her long leg, clad in a high black heel, stepping out of the front seat of Cade’s Bronco. Her hair flowed over her shoulder in shining waves and her dress was entirely made of deep purple, almost black sequins, or maybe shiny beads. I couldn’t tell, mostly because it was skintight and cut almost down to her navel in a deep V, stealing my concentration from everything else but her gorgeous curves in the dangerous, absolute stunner of a dress. She turned to grab a little purse out of the car, and I saw the long, elegant line of her back, bared by another deep V cut. I took in a deep gasp, then quickly coughed to hide it.
I could not take my eyes off her. Gradually, I noticed that no one else could either. Each step she took caused the small crowd milling about outside to grow more hushed. A quick glance around caused my possessive hackles to rise. Asher slipped his arm around her waist protectively while his eyes darted around as if looking for someone. I could only assume he was looking for Tom.
“Why are you out here?” she hissed once they reached me. “Ren was supposed to be greeting the donors and guests, not you.”
Asher gave me a chin lift and stepped away to give us some privacy as I cleared my throat. “Here’s the thing—I don’t care about anything but you. Ren and I switched places. He’ll be the figurehead, and I’m behind the scenes from now on.” I pointed to the easel holding the Lyla’s Place Gala sign, which detailed what we were all about. Instead of my picture, Ren’s face grinned from the corner of the framed sign. “Tom can run his mouth all he wants, because Ren is more than capable of deflecting all his bullshit with his sterling, albeit stern and threatening reputation. It should have been like this from the beginning.” She shook her head in protest and started to speak but I kept going. “Please let me finish explaining. I’m going to be real honest with you, gorgeous, even though you probably know this already. I have a reputation with women as a serial monogamist, player type that I allowed to build up over the years to deflect the rumors of how I felt about you. Ren is a respectable widower.”
“You dated a lot of women. So what? I wish stuff like this didn’t matter so much.” She grumbled under her breath, “People can be so judgy. And you worked so hard—”
I pulled her to the side of the wide expanse of the hotel’s entrance, away