Trust Fund Fiance - Naima Simone Page 0,31

Ezekiel added with a laugh. Nina Holloway had been a stickler for manners. “As far as telling my cousins apart, Sebastian has a scar on his lower back from when we were kids. Whenever they tried to play jokes on us and switch places, I would always grab one of them and look for the scar. I wouldn’t advise doing that here though.”

“I’ll save that for the wedding reception then,” she promised, and both he and Luke chuckled. God, she was sweet. And in ways, too damn innocent for him. “Are you about ready to head into dinner?”

“Yes.” Because this piece of theater allowed him to, he stroked a hand down her long, lustrous waves. Then because he’d already admitted his selfishness, he tangled his fingers in the thick strands and tipped her head back. He noted the flash of wariness in the chicory depths, but she didn’t turn from him, didn’t playfully admonish him and pull away.

Granting her time to do either, he lowered his head and brushed his lips across her forehead. And because the feel of her under his mouth proved to be more of a temptation than he could resist, he repeated the caress over the gentle slope of her nose. Her soft but swift intake of breath echoed between them. “Lead the way,” he murmured.

Slowly, she nodded and as he loosened his hold on her hair, she stepped back. The smile she flashed him trembled before firming. An apology for crossing boundaries lurched to his tongue.

But then he caught the heat swirling beneath the shadows in her eyes seconds before her lashes lowered.

That unintended glimpse arrowed straight to his dick.

Now it was his control that he clenched instead of her hair.

And when she reached back and entwined his fingers with hers as they headed across the room, he clung to the reasons why he couldn’t escort her out of this party to the nearest dark room and fuck her senseless.

“Can you believe their arrogance? Being investigated by the DEA and throwing this party as if nothing is happening. Their gall is astounding. Even for Wingates.”

Ezekiel’s steps faltered and he nearly stumbled as the not-nearly-so-low whispers reached his ears. In front of him, Reagan stopped, her slim shoulders stiffening.

But another ugly voice piped up just behind them.

A disgusted snort. “I wonder if drug money is paying for all of this. Or blood money, as I like to call it.”

“Goddammit,” Luke quietly spat beside him.

Rage, pain, powerlessness and shame. They eddied and churned inside him, whipping and stinging. A howl scraped at his throat, but he trapped it, unwilling to give anyone more to gossip and cackle over.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Reagan said, her voice hard in a way he’d never heard from her. Not until she firmly disentangled her hand from his did he realize how tightly he gripped her.

Unmoving, he and Luke watched as she turned and crossed the short distance to the two older women who had been maligning them. Reagan smiled at them, and as if they hadn’t just been ripping his family apart with their tongues, they returned the warm gesture. Hooking her arms through theirs, she led them through the crowd and toward the great room exit. She tipped her head to the club’s security who unobtrusively stood vigil at the door, and in moments, the two men escorted the women out.

Ezekiel gaped at her as she retraced her path toward him and Luke.

“Holy shit,” Luke marveled. “That might’ve been the hottest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”

“Watch your mouth,” Ezekiel muttered. “That’s my future wife you’re talking about.” But damn if Luke wasn’t right. That take-no-shit act had been hot.

“Now,” Reagan said, returning to his side, “we were headed into dinner.” She clasped his hand again and moved forward as if nothing had interrupted them.

“I need to know, darlin’,” Luke said, falling into step on her other side. Whether Reagan was his fake fiancée or not, she’d won his brother’s admiration and probably his loyalty with her actions tonight. “What did you say to them?”

“Oh, I just thanked them for coming to celebrate our upcoming nuptials. But that I refused to feed mouths that could congratulate us out of one side and denigrate us from the other. Then I wished them a good night and asked security to escort them out.”

Luke threw back his head on a loud bark of laughter that drew several curious glances. “Remind me never to cross you, Reagan Sinclair.”

Pride, fierce and