Dragon's Fake Wedding Date - Riley Storm Page 0,68

he said, reaching up to gently stroke her face.

“Well, aren’t you a sweet talker after you’ve been knocked out,” Trent muttered wryly from nearby.

“Knocked out?” Rann said, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“He means, my darling,” Gayle said, her face tightening as she delivered the news she knew he didn’t want to hear, “that you lost the fight. Kladd kicked you in the head. Hard. Harder than he had to.”

Rann watched Gayle turn her fiery hair and gaze on his team leader.

“No,” he said, reaching up to touch her face again. “No, he didn’t. Kladd did what he had to do. He won the fight. That’s what a good leader would do. You can’t be mad at him.”

“He hit you. You damn well bet I can be mad at him,” Gayle said.

“It was a fight, darling,” Rann pointed out as his brain made the world clear again and he remembered what had happened. “That’s sort of the point.”

“Well, I don’t like it,” she pouted, but she stopped glaring lasers at Kladd, at least.

“I mean, neither do I. I wish I could have won without taking any hits. But alas, that’s not the way it went, now is it?” Rann said. “Besides, Kladd is going to do a great job. Maybe even a better one than I would.”

“How can you say that?” Gayle asked. “You would have been amazing.”

Rann grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Thank you. But I would have been distracted.”

“You would? With what?” she asked, helping him up into a sitting position.

“You,” he said quietly, looking up at her, feeling his heart swell.

“Oh,” Gayle said in a small voice.

Rann winked at her.

“No offense,” he said to Kladd, who was still hovering nearby.

“None taken,” the former team leader said. “Besides, you’re still going to lead something.”

“I am?” Rann asked.

“Someone has to lead the team now that I will have other responsibilities. May as well be you. In fact,” Kladd continued, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I happen to believe I hold the power to tell you that you’re the team leader now. Whether you want it or not. Sucker.”

Rann snorted. “I’m your man.”

“Good,” Kladd said, sticking out his hand.

Rann took it and let the other shifter pull him to his feet.

“Well, isn’t this a cute bromance,” Gayle said as she too stood up. “But he can’t be team leader just yet.”

“What? Why not?” Rann asked, confused.

“Because. Leaders have responsibilities, and you have one to me first.”

“I do?” he asked, confused.

“Yes. You have to take me to a wedding. I don’t want anything getting in the way of that.”

Rann grinned. “Yeah, yeah, I do, don’t I?” He turned to Kladd. “Put that on hold until Monday, will you? I have a date on Saturday with a beautiful woman and another on Sunday with a hangover.”

Kladd stared at him for a moment then threw back his head and laughed. “Okay. I think we can manage that.”

“Good,” Gayle said. “Otherwise, you were going to have to deal with me.”

Rann smiled even wider.

God, he loved that woman!

I just hope I get to tell her that soon.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Rann

He waited for the car door to slide upward and out of the way.

“Who did you say you got this from again?” Gayle asked as he carefully exited the sports car and pushed the gull-wing door shut.

Then, he moved around to the far side with unhurried haste. They were perfectly on time—being late for an evening wedding took talent—although Rann didn’t give a single fuck if they walked in there late. Those two deserved worse than an interruption.

“A friend,” he said, helping her out. “Sports cars aren’t really my thing, but I wasn’t going to let you pull up in a pickup.”

Gayle smiled and tugged her dress back into place.

“You look radiant,” he growled, thoughts turning impure as he noted the way the silky charcoal gray fabric clung to her every curve.

“Why, thank you,” she said demurely, looking back over a shoulder as she headed toward the entrance, tossing him a long wink. “Are you coming?”

“Just tell me where,” he rumbled, catching up to her and taking her arm, adjusting his own clothing to fall back into place.

“Behave,” Gayle said without a trace of reproach. “We’re at a wedding, I’ll have you know.”

Rann snorted. “With you, the only thing I can do is misbehave. Especially when you look like that.”

Gayle smiled, and he watched her skin blush down to her collarbone and past it. The dress had nothing but a pair of thin straps holding it up. The front plunged