I kissed her for the second time, harsher, need filling me before I whispered in her ear, “I wasn’t happy you came without me.”
Her eyes flicked down to my lips, and she rubbed at them with a finger, removing a hint of her lipstick.
“I didn’t want Jada here alone,” she answered, a slight breathlessness to her words that made my body tighten. Her gasps and moans from the night before filled my head and made it almost impossible to move.
“We didn’t get to make a plan,” I said, trying to scold, trying to keep the desire at bay so I could focus on the operation and the deal going down somewhere on the premises. I wanted Violet out of here before anything happened. We had agents placed among the staff who had been hired for the event, but it was a drop in a storm.
“Do we need a plan?” Her eyes widened slightly as her hands slid around my waist under the tuxedo jacket and hit the gun that was tucked into the waistband. Thankfully, the twenties-style evening wear was loose enough to hide the silhouette of it.
“We might,” I said.
A gong sounded like an old-time Victorian call to dinner, and from a side door, Tsuyoshi Mori stepped. He wore a regular tuxedo, which didn’t surprise me. Mori-sama wasn’t the type to play dress-up. He wasn’t the kind to play at all.
He stepped up on a tiny stage near a wall of retractable glass doors that had been flung wide to allow the guests to meander between the heavily decorated room to a tent with the tables. The crowd quieted for him without further encouragement.
“Thank you for coming tonight to help us celebrate,” he said.
Ken’Ichi emerged from the same door Mori-sama had come from. His tux was as simple as his boss’s, but he had a pale blue silk vest underneath that matched the color of Jada’s dress. I wondered if she’d told him the color or if he’d found it out for himself by bribing Yuriko. He moved through the room, eyes sliding around, finding me and then gliding away again. I was sure he was searching for Jada who’d vanished.
Violet turned to watch just as a voice spoke beside me.
“Dawson.”
I turned to see Dax entering, tipping a cane toward me. He was garbed in a twenties-style tuxedo similar to mine, and a pale blue flower was tucked into the lapel. The blue was not a mistake in his case. It was a silent tribute.
“Dax. You look…dapper? Is that the right vernacular?” I asked with a small smile.
He chuckled before looking down at Vi.
“Violet, you’re beautiful,” he said, raising her hand to his lips and kissing the knuckles.
I scowled, and Dax laughed even more just as Mori-sama’s words drew us back to him.
“Tonight, we celebrate a great accomplishment. An accomplishment no one has been able to achieve in over twenty years. Raise your glasses to Armaud Racing for winning the Conquistar de la Atlántica cup.” The words were a compliment, but the way he said Dax’s last name was almost an insult. I was pretty sure he hated having to recognize the Armauds for anything.
A flute of champagne magically appeared in Mori-sama’s hand, and he raised it in our direction. The room copied his movement. Cheers, gentle clapping, and “Hear! Hears!” filled the room. I inclined my head, and Dax did a full-on bow.
When I looked down at her, Violet was beaming up at me. Happy. Full of joy.
God, I hoped I could keep her that way.
I slid my hand into hers, and she squeezed it tightly.
A small motion at the glass doors brought our eyes to Jada reentering from wherever she’d disappeared to. Saito-san on one side, Ito-san on the other. Both dressed to the hilt in twenties garb. Ito-san wore a tuxedo instead of a dress, but it still showed off every curve of the driver’s body.
Jada tossed back the champagne in the flute she held, handed the glass to Ito-san, and then joined her father on the stage. Ken’Ichi mounted right behind her, shooting a look of daggers in Jada’s direction before it was schooled away behind a small, tight smile.
“It also brings me joy to be celebrating a new partnership tonight. It is with great pleasure I announce my daughter’s engagement to a man who is already like family to me. A son. Someone who has shown tremendous loyalty to both me and Mori Enterprises. My