Angel of Redemption (49 page)

“Hi,” he says, his hand finding a place on my hip.

“Hi. Look who I found.”

Dean nods. “You must be Warren.”

“I must be,” Warren says smoothly.

Dean reaches out a hand and Warren grips it
tightly. “It’s nice to meet you officially.”

“Yes, it is.” Warren smirks. “This is Julieta.
Julieta, Dean Wyatt.”

Julieta says something else. All I understand is “Wyatt.”
Warren nods at her. Julieta greets Dean in a similar way as she did me,
although this time more sexually. I raise my eyebrows, but I
’m not
threatened. Dean’s polite, but he doesn’t return the vibe.

“I think I owe you a drink,” Dean says to Warren.
He doesn
’t seem bothered at all that Warren is totally checking him out.

“Not that I’m complaining, but for what?”

Dean doesn’t answer, but he must make a gesture
behind my back, because Warren responds. “
Sí
. My pleasure. Another time,
though, yes? My father appears to be requesting our presence.”

I see Warren’s dad and mom across the room and
wave. His mom kisses her hand and waves back.

“Give them my love. I’ll stop by and see them
later.”

“Of course,
mi amor
. For my sake,
don’t be good tonight,” he says quietly in my ear. I swat him as he walks away
laughing.

“Wow,” Dean gapes, watching them go. Julieta’s
culo
is swaying from side to side like a metronome. It’s kind of hypnotic.

“Yeah.”

“Those shoes are hot,
” he deadpans.

“Shut up!” I squeal, slapping him so hard on the
chest that he has to grab onto me to keep from falling backward. There
’s
no way he was looking at her feet. Although…he does seem to have a thing for
shoes.

“Come on,” he laughs. “Emily’s by the bar. I’ll
take you to her. Aiden and I have something to do.”

Dean escorts me to the other side of the foyer
and points out his sister-in-law.

“Oh my God, Emily. I’m so happy to see you,” I
say, leaning into her shoulder.

“I saw you with the in-laws and considered
rescuing you, but I was afraid Maria would rope me into something.”

I laugh.
“She was fine. They both were
very nice.”

“Good. I was just kidding. I figured they would
be. They like you. You’re okay, though, right?” she asks, getting serious for a
minute.

I nod. “Yeah. I don’t know about Dean, though.”

“He’ll be fine. These things put him on guard.
There are people here that don’t like the position he holds.
”

“Why?”

“Because they’re idiots. They can do no wrong,
but God forbid anyone else makes a mistake. Maria tries to pretend nothing
happened. She wants Dean to behave like one of these muppets
—prancing
around and yapping happily about money and success. You’d think after almost
fourteen years, she’d get over it and accept that he’s never going to be what
she considers normal.”

I look around, needing to change the subject. I
don’t know Joe and Maria well enough to comment. I don’t know what it’s like to
be a parent, much less a parent who’s been through what they have.

“This is really amazing.”

Emily goes with the flow. “Yeah, you should see
the Christmas ball, though. It’s held at the country estate that belonged to
Joe’s parents. It’s technically Joe’s now, but we all use it as a vacation home
and holiday retreat. Granddad Wyatt still lives there, too, but he doesn’t
socialize much since the Alzheimer
’s diagnosis. Maria has it decorated
to the nines. That event’s not too bad.”

I hum and nod my head. Emily continues.

“Honestly, though, the best part about these
things is that Aiden and I get to stay in a swanky hotel or guest room, make
love all night long, and sleep naked without having to worry about the kids
walking in on us.
”

I laugh at her candidness, but I
’m curious
about the “not too bad” comment. “Why don’t you like the events?” I ask
curiously.

“It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s really
nice to step out every once in awhile and just be with my husband, but we are
not like these people. The majority of them aren’t here out of the kindness of
their hearts. They’re here because it’s a tax deduction, and it looks good on
their social resume.” Emily takes a huge gulp of her wine. “Don’t get me wrong,
there are a few generous people here who would donate with or without this
spectacle, but the majority of them just like to dress up and look fancy.
”
Emily has always been open with me, but she is entirely uncensored at the
moment. It’s funny. “Like that one over there,” she says pointing at a redhead
across the room. “That is Madison Badeau. She is wife number six to Mr. Raphael
Badeau, the old coot she’s hanging on to. He’s seventy-three. She’s
twenty-eight. That dress she’s wearing cost about seven grand. The shoes? Another
two grand. She’s probably got over one hundred thousand dollars worth of jewels
dripping down her fake tits. It’s ridiculous.”

My amazement at the cost is outweighed by only
one thing.

“Gross. He’s forty-five years older than her. You
think she has sex with him?”

Emily laughs loudly, nearly spitting out her
wine. “It’s men like him who fund Viagra research, Kayla. Of course she’s doing
him.”

I know the look on my face can’t be pretty. I’m
thoroughly disgusted.

“Do I even want to know what my wife said to make
you look like that?” Aiden asks as he approaches with Dean.

“Madison Badeau,” Emily says innocently. Dean
groans. Emily and Aiden laugh.

“What?” I ask, confused by their reaction.

“Mrs. Badeau has been known to proposition my
brother on more than one occasion.” Aiden grins.

“She grabbed my dick under the table last
Christmas.” Dean scowls. “Her husband was a foot away, and she started stroking
me like I was a Persian cat.”

Emily catches my eye and winks. “She’s sitting
next to you again tonight, sweetie.”

“Who makes these fucking seating charts?” Dean
gripes.

It was much funnier when they were speaking in past
tense. I’m his date tonight, and I don’t want anyone else touching him.

“Apparently Mrs. Badeau requested to sit with
you,
” Aiden sighs. “Said she and her husband like to hear the nitty
gritty about where their money goes.”

“Their?” Emily scoffs. “What has she done to earn
a single—never mind.”

“Why the fuck can’t she sit next to you?” Dean
asks.

“Because she knows I’ll rip those silicone
implants right out of her chest if she even thinks about touching my husband,”
Emily growls.

Aiden laughs and takes the glass of wine from his
wife. “Come with me, sugar. I want to show you something. We’ll see you guys at
dinner.”

As they walk away, I feel Dean’s hand slip
underneath the fabric at the back of my dress, his fingers caressing my hip.

“Kayla?” he whispers, his voice low.

“Hmm?” I ask, my mind going blank from the feel
of his breath on my neck.

“What is this?”

“What is w
—oh.” My mouth forms a
small
o
at the realization of what he’s
talking about.

“Yeah. Oh.”

“Does it show?”

“No, it doesn’t show. I can feel the ink.”
Fingertips stroke my skin, and I feel warm lips against the shell of my ear. He
’s
making me nervous—and excited. My heart is racing, my breathing
uncontrolled. I’m about to implode. “All this time and you didn’t think to tell
me?”

“You didn’t ask,” I say weakly. His hand trails
from my hip up my side, close to my breast.

“
Soon you’re going to show me exactly what
you’ve been hiding.”

If I
’d been questioning where this
relationship was going, I’m confident I know now. My whole body is trembling
with intense desire. He knows it, too. He keeps pushing the boundaries,
skimming areas beneath my dress. He’s seducing me. I’m both thrilled and scared
by the idea.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I blurt out,
dashing away before I can embarrass myself by launching at him in the middle of
the room. Or maybe I embarrassed myself anyway by leaving so abruptly.

After washing my hands and fixing my makeup, I
take a deep breath and make my way back to the bar. I halt abruptly when I see
Dean being approached by the redhead.

“Hello, handsome,” she says, her voice dripping
with lust. Dean startles but plays it off and forces a smile. I step back,
hiding behind a fabric barrier covering wires for the audio system. I’m pretty
sure they can’t see me, but I can see them and hear every word.

“Hello, Mrs. Badeau. How are you this evening?”
he asks in a tight voice. He’s obviously uncomfortable, but either she doesn’t
realize, or she doesn’t care.

“Better now that I’m here with you.” She places
her perfectly manicured hand on his arm. “And how many times do I have to ask
you to call me Madison? We know each other well enough by now.”

I feel tightness in my chest. I’m jealous. I don’t
want to be, but I am. Dean glances in my direction, but I can’t tell if he sees
me. His attention is drawn back to Madison when she grabs his bowtie,
straightening it
—even though it was already perfectly straight.

“Raphael has a meeting in New York tomorrow. He’s
taking a red-eye, so I’ll be staying in the hotel tonight. Alone.
” She
bites her lip. Her obvious attempt at being coy makes me want to throw up. “Will
you be staying here tonight, too?”

Dean shifts backward. Every muscle in his body is
telling this woman he’s not interested, but she’s clueless.

“I suppose that’s up to Kayla, my date.”

“Your date?” she scoffs. “Ah, yes. I’ve heard the
talk, but I haven’t seen her yet. She’s a social worker, right?”

Dean nods. “That she is.”

“Oh, that makes more sense. I mean, Wyatt House
is a charitable program—might as well extend that to the dregs. I so hope
the rest of us don’t make her uncomfortable. She must feel so out of place.”

Did she just call me “the dregs”? I have to bite
my thumbnail to keep from running over there and bashing in those perfect
porcelain teeth.

“Poor thing,” Madison coos. “Must be an
exhausting job, dealing with all those damaged children.”

I’ve had just about enough of her diatribe. I
step out from behind the wall. Dean’s eyes find me immediately. He smirks,
reaching out a hand. I curl into him as he slips his arm around my waist.

“It’s definitely an exhausting job,” I butt in, “but
I love it.”

Madison startles before glaring at me. Dean runs
his nose up and down my neck, unnecessarily reassuring me that he had no
intention of falling for her bullshit.

“And it’s the parents who are damaged, not the
children.”

“I didn’t realize anyone was listening to our
private conversation.” Her words hold venom, but she looks a little shaken up
now that she
’s realized I’m not some frumpy old matron.

“Yes, well, I was searching for my date. Oh,
look, I found him.”

Madison lets out a false, nasal laugh. “That is
so funny. You must be
—”

“Kayla, the social worker,” I affirm.

“Nice.” She wrinkles up her nose as if I’m
offending her. She has no idea just how offensive I can be when I really try. “So,
how did you two meet?”

“Kayla has a couple of kids placed at Wyatt
House,
” Dean says openly.

“Really?” she sneers. “You guys would make such a
lovely couple. It’s a shame that getting into a relationship would be a
conflict of interest.” Her eyes dart between us, probably attempting to read
our expressions, but I’m an expert at hiding my feelings and I doubt Dean is
giving her anything either. “My husband’s been on the Board of Directors for
decades. I think he was there even before Joe.” She smirks.

“Decades?” I fake a gasp. “Wow, you look
fantastic. I never would have guessed.”

“What?”

Dean’s grip tightens on my waist. He knows I’m
about to be a total bitch.

“I just thought
—I mean…decades. You
don’t look a day over thirty-five.”

Dean coughs. He does a pretty good job of hiding
his laugh, but I can hear it. Madison’s jaw drops.

“I
—”

“Sweetheart, there you are.” The guy Emily
pointed out as Mr. Badeau approaches his still-gaping wife. With stock in
Viagra, he’s probably pretty used to seeing her with her mouth wide open like
that. “Are you feeling all right? You look a little pale.”

Dean presses his mouth against my head. “You are
so bad,” he snickers quietly. I turn my head so that our lips are practically
touching.

“I, uh, I’m fine,
” Madison Badeau
recovers. “You know Dean.” Our attention is drawn back to the odd couple in
front of us.

“I do. Young Mr. Wyatt, you look like you’ve been
behaving yourself.” I can feel the condescension radiating off the old man.

“I try,” Dean says flatly. “We missed you at the
last board meeting.”