His to Take (Wicked Lovers #9)(56)
Author: Shayla Black

Sean smiled up at her and bent to press a soft kiss to her lips. “That you will, lovely.”

“Does the room look all right?” she asked anxiously.

With a sardonic glance, Sean looked around. “I’m sure it’s far more than Thorpe expected.”

That made Callie grin, and for a moment they looked at each other as if no one else existed. Joaquin could actually feel the love between them, enclosing them together in something so excruciatingly personal it nearly gave him hives. He’d never encountered anything like it.

Watching them filled him with discomfort, yet he couldn’t look away. Coming home to someone who was the center of his world . . . What would that be like? His father had died when Joaquin was young, and his mother had remarried an absolute prick. He’d been relieved to hear that she’d divorced him.

Joaquin glanced across the room at Bailey, who stood in shadow behind the bar, watching Sean and Callie with a naked longing on her face that stabbed him in the gut. Fuck. Even if she ever found the courage to ask him for so much as a peck again, a smart man would turn her down.

So far, when it came to Bailey, he hadn’t proven himself to be terribly bright.

A moment later, chatter filled the foyer area around the corner. A woman with a high-pitched Betty Boop voice said hello—the woman everyone called Sweet Pea. Greetings ensued, and Joaquin winced when he heard his sister a moment later. He still wasn’t quite sure what to say to her. Hi, I hope you’re having a nice life? The thought not only made him uncomfortable, but sent guilt rolling through his stomach. She reminded him of all the shit he didn’t want to remember.

Joaquin crossed the room to Bailey. “Let’s go.”

She looked up at him with big blue eyes, silently pleading. “I don’t want to go back to that room. I’m bored and I’m not used to being cooped up.” She raised her chin. “I want to meet your sister.”

Hideous idea. He could only guess what Kata would tell her. “No one can know you were here.”

“There will be fewer than twenty people at this party. You know most everyone attending,” Callie reasoned. “Bailey helped me a lot today. I’d love to have her here.” She looked a little uncertain. “I don’t have many friends coming. The Edgington wives don’t seem to like me.”

“They don’t know you well. Give them time,” Sean scolded her, then turned to Joaquin. “I promise, no one coming would dare to breathe a word of Bailey’s presence. As you can imagine, we’re a pretty tight-lipped community.”

Joaquin looked around the room again, at all the trappings of BDSM. So Sean probably told the truth. That didn’t mean Joaquin liked any of it—risking Bailey, seeing family.

He gritted his teeth, but before he could grab Bailey and drag her from the room, Kata came barreling around the corner, carrying a gift bag and wearing a black dress that hugged her swollen belly. She was beginning to waddle.

“You didn’t say good-bye.” Kata came at him, hands on her hips. “Again.”

“It was kind of a life-or-death situation,” he protested.

She scowled. Obviously, she didn’t like it, but she understood. “Did you find the woman you needed to protect?”

He turned to look for Bailey, who stepped forward, the light above making the golden tone of her blond-brown hair glitter. “I’m Bailey Benson. You’re Joaquin’s sister?”

“When he remembers that he has family, yes.” She sent him a snappy stare, then directed something kinder Bailey’s way, hand outstretched. “I’m Kata. Nice to meet you.”

Bailey shook her hand, looking so petite next to his sister, who was both taller and very pregnant. “Nice to meet you, too. You have the same eyes.”

“So our mother always says. Did you know she’s remarried, by the way?” Kata asked him.

No, he hadn’t had a clue. His mother sent cards to a P.O. box he almost never opened. Sometimes, she left voicemails on his cell phone, but work had given him a different phone and number. Since he didn’t have a personal life, he rarely ever looked at his personal phone.

His ignorance must have shown, since his sister kept talking. “Yeah, she married Hunter and Logan’s dad, Caleb, this past September.”

Whoa. “Seriously? She married your husband’s father?”

“Yep, and they’re very happy. If you tuned in every once in a while, you would have known.” She gave him an acid smile, then turned to Bailey. “Do you need anything? Are you all right?” His sister sent him a knowing glare. “Is my big brother treating you well?”