Page 36 of The First Deal

“Hudson, there you are,” a tall, blonde woman said as she hurried towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, gazing up at him fondly.

Unless Shane had other close female friends, my guess was that this was Violet. I was also guessing that I was going to instantly dislike her, but I’d try to be polite, once she unravelled herself from my boyfriend’s neck.

He was still holding my hand as he gave her a one-armed hug, then turned his attention back to me, making a move to pull away from her, but she held on tighter.

“Hudson, you look great. How are you?” Maybe-Violet asked, ignoring me entirely.

“I’m fine, Vi”—knew it—“and you look nice too. Now, there is someone I’d like to intro—”

“This dress…” She released him to show off her silver, halter-neck dress. “Do you remember it? It’s the one I wore when we took the kids to New York for New Year’s Eve back in, oh, what year was it, Hudson? Oh-four, maybe five. Anyway, can you believe it still fits?”

“Amazing,” Shane said, glancing at me.

I looked back at him with a slight raise of my brows, and it was only when he pulled me closer, forcing me into Violet’s line of sight, and pressed a kiss to my hair, that she finally acknowledged me.

“This is Hannah,” Shane said to Violet, who nodded, then gave me a quick once over. “Hannah.” She said my name like it pained her, then she shoved a bony hand my way. “Violet. Hudson’s oldest,closestfriend.”

“So I’ve heard,” I said sweetly as I took her hand, hating how limp her handshake was, but I continued to play nice. “That dress looks stunning on you. I’m sure you look exactly the same as you did back then, even better now perhaps.”

My attempt to play into her ego failed, but Shane didn’t notice. Violet smiled unkindly at me, then flicked her hair as she turned to head inside, calling Shane to follow.

“I think it’s going well,” he whispered to me as we followed his friend inside.

“Mhmm,” I hummed, and he paused, halting me in the foyer.

“Mhmm? Cariño, do you not think it’s going well?” He was staring down at me, his brows beginning to pinch together.

I smoothed my thumb between them, and quickly kissed him. “It’s fine, Rex. We’re going to have a great time tonight.”

Satisfied, he guided me down a hall and through a set of arched double doors. Inside was a long table, set with white and gold plates and bowls, with an intimidating array of cutlery at each seat.

“Don’t worry, no one will judge if you use the wrong one,” Shane said, following my wide-eyed line of sight. “It’s just how the room is set up, it’s the same every year. It’s going to be far more relaxed than it looks.”

Sighing in relief, I continued into the room, smiling as we greeted friends and colleagues of Shane as we went. To each of them, I was introduced as his girlfriend, and every single one of them had gasped and then stared at me like I was some exotic animal being paraded around.

They were fascinated by me, and I was by them too. I wanted to know more about all of them, but there was hardly any time before we were seated at the huge table and I found myself sitting between Shane and a man whose name I hadn’t caught yet, all I knew was that he was Lynda’s date, and that she was in a foul mood. So I was thankful that it was him that I was beside rather than her.

The seat beside Shane was empty for a couple of minutes, and I wondered if it would stay that way for the whole evening, but thenshecame and sat beside him. Her hand instantly found his on the table, and she squeezed it tight as she grinned excitedly at him.

It was clear what she was doing, and that she was, in fact, not over what had happened. She still wanted him. It would take an idiot not to see it. Not that Shane was an idiot, he was just, I dunno, blinded by his friendship I supposed.

Well, I could play too. Slipping my hand beneath the table, I placed it on Shane’s thigh, applied firm pressure, and skated towards the inside until I was resting just below where I was certain his cock was.

He pulled away from Violet, and smirked down at me, a hunger in his eyes as his hand joined mine under the table and he guided it up, just enough to feel the impressive bulge of his slowly hardening length.

Violet was talking to him, and he turned his attention back to her to catch the end of what she was saying. As he spoke, I squeezed, and held back a laugh as he choked on his words.

He covered by pouring himself a glass of water and sipping it, until he spluttered that too as I squeezed harder and stroked up and down over the fabric of his trousers.

“Are you alright, Hudson? You aren’t coming down with something, are you? If you are I can make you that soup I know you like.” Violet had raised her voice for that last bit, clearly for my benefit.

“I’m fine, Vi. Just a tickle in my throat.” He pointed to his throat and smiled.

“I’ll make it tomorrow anyway, it’s no bother. You can’t quite beat home-cooked food made with love.” She leaned forward, speaking to me now. “Do you cook, Harriet?”

“Hannah,” Shane corrected, but I ignored her deliberate ‘mistake.’

“I do. Not quite as well as Rex does, but he’s taught me a few things, haven’t you?” I batted my lashes as I looked at Shane. “What was it that we made on Wednesday?”

---