Page 49 of By His Vow
“No,” she says quickly. “I don’t have him pegged for a stalker type. But you know what this city is like. You can’t take a left turn without someone noticing and telling anyone who cares. You’re a Warner, Tate. And you’re about to be attached to one of the most powerful men in Chicago. People will be watching.”
“No one knows. Only you and?—”
“Everyone who saw the photo online earlier?” she asks, raising a brow.
“Fuck,” I groan, dropping my head into my hands.
“People know who you are, Tate. And they certainly know who he is. Like it or not, you’re hot gossip right now. I bet it would take us less than two minutes searching online to find you here. If Kingston wanted to, he could in a heartbeat.”
“He won’t,” I breathe, praying I’m right.
Lori smiles at me. “Just…don’t underestimate him. You know all too well what they’re capable of. Don’t be naive because you don’t want to believe what’s possible.”
With a sigh and a smile I genuinely don’t feel, I let her tug me out of the bathroom and toward the bar, where we find Cory waiting with a row of shots before him.
Oh god. This is going to get messy...
That thought isn’t enough to stop me, though. If anything, it spurs me on.
I swallow down the first one and reach for the second, but something makes me turn around.
I want to say that it’s Lori’s warning about what Kingston is capable of that sends a shiver racing down my spine, but something tells me it’s more than that.
Fuck.
I scan the mass of dancers before me but come up empty. I’m hardly surprised. I can’t honestly see him gyrating in the middle of a sweaty crowd.
He’s more…
My eyes jump toward the VIP area upstairs.
The glass is black from down here, preventing the mere peasants from seeing the elite looking down on them.
My skin prickles with awareness, all the hairs on my body lifting.
He’s there.
Watching me. I feel it.
Heat surges through me along with a powerful shot of adrenaline.
I wink, letting him know that I’m aware of him before throwing back my second shot and quickly following it up with a third.
“What the fuck are we doing loitering here? Let’s go and dance.”
A potent mixture of excitement and anticipation surges through my veins as I come to a stop in the middle of the crowd and drop down low again, sticking my ass out and grinding back up Cory’s body.
Lori watches me with a warning dancing in her eyes.
“Call Matt,” I shout. “It’s time to forget reality for a few hours.”
13
KINGSTON
Istand with Kian, our father, Grant, our CMO, and a few other board members of Callahan Enterprises. All of them are in their late fifties or sixties. They’re all nice enough, but they’re not exactly who I want to be spending my Friday night with—Kian aside, of course.
But Dad was insistent we both show our faces. The board is concerned about the merger, and who are we to refuse to have a drink with them in the hope of settling their minds? I’m not sure how this actually helps, but I guess Dad’s the boss. For now…