Heat warmed her face. “Thank you for your kind words.”
Victor squeezed her waist. “Now that we’re done with that, I need to find a real drink. I have a feeling I’m going to need it to fend off the men in the room,” he told his family.
“There’s an idea I can endorse,” Justin said, leading the way to the bar.
Shannon took the opportunity to whisper in Victor’s ear. “Oldest client, huh?”
He shrugged. “Not a lie. I learned to buy and sell scraps starting with my father. He gave me my first loan.”
She held him back a few steps, looked down at her dress. “This dress is practically glued in place. If anything pops out, you had better tell me.”
His eyes traveled down, he wiggled his eyebrows.
She slapped his arm. “Victor.”
“I will.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
They started walking again. He leaned close. “Is it bad that I want something to pop out?”
“Victor!” she warned between clenched teeth.
“Okay, that’s bad. Got it.”
His parents . . . good God, his parents. “You could have told me your parents were coming.”
“I somehow think me asking you to a family dinner this early would have ended up being a no go.”
“You’d have been right.”
“Then this worked out.”
“For you.”
He brought her hand up to his, kissed the back of it. “For both of us. You’ll see.”
For his sake, she hoped he was right. Or that condom was going to remain in its wrapper for a very long time.
Victor was keenly aware of the men watching his date. He couldn’t blame them. He’d been in several states of arousal ever since she revealed her dress at the door. Good thing she didn’t do it at her house, or he might have skipped the event altogether.
Now he had no choice but to stay by her side and move in anytime he saw someone stepping in too close. And when the photographer came around, Victor was right there to smile for the camera. For the event page of the charity website, they were told. Of course, once they were public, there was no telling where the images would end up.
He was okay with that.
Victor didn’t want to hide this thing they were exploring any longer. Even if it appeared that he was the asshole in the saga that was him and Corrie. He didn’t care.
He introduced Shannon to a dozen acquaintances and a couple of business associates he’d dealt with over the years.
Only once did his “almost bride” get brought up.
“I heard you got married, introduce me to your beautiful wife.”
He hesitated, but Shannon jumped right in. “Victor left the wife at home and brought me instead,” she told Sebastian Crane, a once a year acquaintance Victor never spoke with outside of this event.
Justin chimed in once Sebastian regained his equilibrium. Explained that the marriage had never happened.
Victor took the opportunity to steer Shannon away.
Not that he’d expected any different, but the welcome Shannon received from his parents, and Shannon’s genuine interest in getting to know Deirdre, was icing on the cake.
No one pulled him aside to tell him she was too young, too naive, or too anything. All he caught in reaction to Shannon was the occasional man releasing a breath after she walked by.
Her dress was killing him. He couldn’t help but wish something would pop out so he could touch it and pop it back in.
Thankfully, the night would end with dancing, which he intended to use to his full advantage by holding her close.
“You do realize you’re staring,” she told him through the second course of their dinner.
He leaned over, whispered, “You wore that so I would.”
She didn’t deny him. Instead she placed a hand on his lap and continued to make conversation with his family at the table.
The dinner took forever, followed by the longest speech in existence . . . green energy, save the world, we can make a difference . . . blah, blah, blah.
The music started and Victor almost applauded.
Instead he scooted his chair back and reached for Shannon’s hand. “I’ve been waiting all night for this.”
He was pretty sure his father laughed. He knew for sure his brother made a snarky comment.
It was a charity event, not a frat party, so the music was slow and the dancing was cheek to cheek.
Victor wrapped an arm around her and held her close, his lips right by her ear. “Thank you,” he said.
She kept to his lead, smooth on her feet. Nothing like when they tried their hands at salsa. “What for?”