Page 56 of The Girlfriend Game
She sniffs and waves a hand before patting my forearm patronizingly. “Oh, you’re no fun. You’ve always been too damn serious for your own good. Maybe that’s why it’s taken you so long to settle down.”
Kerry jumps in, likely noticing the way my hands ball into fists, ready to shove one down Aunt Cheryl’s throat. “Aunt Cheryl, we’re so glad you came tonight. Why don’t we go see if we can find your husband, shall we?”
Kerry wraps an arm around Cheryl’s shoulders and guides her toward where her husband was last seen with a group of other family members. Kerry turns over her shoulder and mouths, “Oh, my God!”
I’d cry if it wasn’t so funny, but breathe in a sigh of relief from her rescue attempt. I would have been mortified had Zeke been with me when Cheryl let her mouth run like that. Thankfully, when she met Zeke earlier, the only thing she did that caused embarrassment was groping him like a cougar.
As if reading my mind, Zeke turns and his gaze latches on to mine from across the ballroom. He says something over his shoulder to the group and heads in my direction. As he approaches, I smile at the lopsided grin he gives me and then I melt into his arms when he tugs me into his firm chest. Just the small gesture alone gives me the resolve I need to endure this torture brought on by well-meaning family. Plus, he smells damn good.
Like a blazing fire pit on winter’s eve. Woodsy and smoky.
“How you doing, babe? You look like you could use a drink.” When I jiggle the nearly full glass of champagne in my hand, he leans down and brushes his lips to my ear. “Or maybe a screaming orgasm.”
“I could go for that. Especially after talking to my aunt Cheryl.” I roll my eyes with a shake of my head.
Zeke scans the room and his eyes land on Kerry and Cheryl who have found my uncle Keith, who seems to be doing his best to ignore his wife.
“The lady wearing that gawdy necklace?” he asks, squishing his nose up distastefully.
“Yep, that’s the one. Same woman who nearly molested you earlier with her wandering hands. My God, that woman has no social tact whatsoever.”
Zeke laughs. “Meh, I’m used to it.”
He amends his comment when I give him a look of horror.
He tucks me into his body. “I just mean, some people, especially mature women, tend to get handsy when they meet me. Like they have license to touch me because I’m on TV. It’s a weird phenomenon.”
He gives me another little squeeze and tilts his head down to settle my nerves with his signature heart stopping grin. This beautiful man who has graced the covers of GQ and Sports Illustrated has me swooning with one single smile. The one that makes me feel like the only woman in his sight. The only woman he sees.
“Well, you do not need to take that crap from my family member. I can go take her down right now…” I try to punch the air with my arm, simultaneously swinging free from his hold, but he grips me by the wrist and twirls me back with a laugh.
“Hold on there, Mike Tyson. Don’t go beating up your auntie to defend my honor.” He kisses the top of my head sweetly. “I think I can hold my own. Even though she does deserve some humble pie after the shots she took at your expense.”
I tilt my head up to look him in the eyes. “Why? What exactly did she say?”
“Just a lot of outdated nonsense. Her opinion is that had you not spent so much time on school and your career, you’d be married with kids by now. Then she went on to explain that women have a shorter shelf life than men,” he says using air quotes, accompanied by an eye roll.
I grumble. “I told you that’s what the conversation would entail.”
“Well, I made her eat crow when I disagreed with her. I said, ‘No offense, Cheryl but Kendall has accumulated a bigger list of achievements of anyone in this room and she’s made decisions based on her own timetables, not the expectations of others. In fact, there shouldn’t be different expectations for men verses women. You wouldn’t say the same thing to me, would you?’”
That’s when it happens.
My heart expands to capacity inside my chest so that it literally explodes and bursts out of my body, floating around us on butterfly wings.
The poetry of this moment has me realizing something very unexpected.
I’ve unequivocally fallen for Zeke Forester.
