with you.” His hand slides off my hip to my ass and his fingers delve into my flesh.
I rise to my tiptoes and he steps in front of me, blocking us from bystanders. His lips millimeters from mine, I impatiently wait for him to claim them as his again.
“Do you want to know my plans or do you prefer surprises?” His voice is low, and the deep timbre he’s perfected makes my insides clench.
“Why don’t you give me a sample?”
His straight lips tip up as though he can’t control them. It’s my favorite smile of his. The impromptu one where he’s trying to fight his amusement but fails miserably.
He steps forward, raising his hand above my head and pressing it against the red siding of the restaurant. Leaning forward, he runs his nose up and down my jawline.
“Let’s just say you’ll find out I have three amazing God-given assets. My mouth, my tongue, and my cock all revved and ready to fulfill your every wish.” His teeth grip the fleshy part of my earlobe, tugging once again.
My body heats and I close my eyes, pushing back the thought of raising my legs to straddle his waist and grinding against him just to ease the thrum of energy building in my body.
“Oh aren’t you guys cute. Don’t let him seduce you, Hannah. He’s a heartbreaker.”
Talk about a douse of cold water.
Roarke steps back, glaring at his mother. “Always my biggest fan,” Roarke murmurs.
“I’m stealing her away. People want to meet this new love of yours from Chicago.” Edie slides her arm through mine and walks us away.
I look longingly over my shoulder to Roarke to save me. He watches us leave him, tilting the glass up to his lips.
Disregarding Roarke since he’s not going to tell his mother not to kidnap me and I turn back around. That’s when Edie’s description of me finally hits my brain.
“New love?”
She laughs, patting my hand. “I know women can be blind sometimes, but Roarke has always worn his feelings on his sleeve. Besides, I’m his mama—I can tell what that boy’s thinking. Always could.”
I want to object. I want to tell her she’s way off base. That here and now is the first time I’ve seen an ounce of vulnerability in Roarke. That the boy she raised and the man I know are completely different and until a few hours ago, I couldn’t see that they co-existed in the same body.
Instead, I offer her, “I’m starting to see that.”
She stops near a table at the river’s edge where there are five women seated, all eyes on me.
A boulder lodges in my throat.
“Sit,” the woman throwing off a sweet grandmotherly appearance says, patting the chair next to her.
I do as I’m told and Edie takes the one next to me.
“You’ll never remember all our names, but…” Edie introduces the women to me.
She’s wrong though because I was brought up to never forget a name. My mother taught me at a young age to always associate something with the name to help me remember better. Hence the woman next to me would be Peachy Pam because her hair color resembles a peach. Or the woman two down from her is Mustache Millie because she has a bit of a mustache. It’s a simple technique and I still use it today.
“Pleasure ladies.” I nod to the women at the table.
“The pleasure is all ours. Now…tell us your story,” Mustache Millie says, sitting up in her seat with her wine glass at her lips.
“Story?”
Peachy Pam pats my arm. “How you met Roarke. There are women around here who have been trying to nail him down every time he comes home. Liv didn’t know what she lost until he came back to town as a successful lawyer with his fancy car and big billfold.”
“Well…” I try to push away thoughts of Roarke and Liv in love so jealousy won’t have a way to take a foothold in me.
I’ve had men in my life before. It’s not like Roarke and I are committed to one another. Heck, I haven’t even slept with him, but the thought that Liv was the love of his life disturbs me to the point of becoming a psycho woman.
“We met in court.”
“You were married before?” Edie asks me, eyes wide.
I nod. “I was.”
“Roarke was your divorce lawyer?” Millie asks, downing the rest of her wine staring at her friends like I’m giving the lowdown on her favorite celebrity.
“No. He was my ex’s.”
It dawns on me