Beautiful Beginning(36)
alternately rock my world and make me insane. It’s life as it should be.”
As if on cue, Bennett stepped from the men’s room, wearing an expression
that told me he was much calmer. He gave me a little wink.
Will glared at him before turning and walking past us to head back
downstairs to the party.
“Well?” I asked, when Bennett came close and bent to slide his lips
across mine.
“Well, what?”
“Feel better?”
He shrugged. “Marginally.”
“What was the fantasy?”
His hazel eyes grew heavy as he stared at my mouth. Leaning forward he
murmured, “You were bound and gagged. I f*cked you from behind, and didn’
t let you come.”
When he kissed my cheek and pulled my hand to lead me back to our dinner, I
knew he was telling me the absolute truth. And suddenly I didn’t feel
quite so sated anymore.
Dinner wound down and people began ordering cocktails, moving into small
groups to talk, and venturing out onto the dance floor. From our table,
Bennett and I sat watching. His long arm stretched out on the chair behind
me, and he toyed with the ends of my hair.
“You’re a pain in the ass,” he said quietly.
“Well, you definitely weren’t a pain in mine.”
With a deep chuckle he whispered, “You’re shameless.”
“I am.”
He shook his head next to me, reaching with his free hand for his drink.
I looked over to where Judith and Mary had Will sandwiched between them,
grinding lewdly. “You’re in trouble for that,” I told Bennett. “Will
said he’s going ‘Vietcong’ on you.”
“I figured.”
Their hands moved up his sides, in his hair . . . seriously, he looked like
he was in some AARP version of a Naughty by Nature video. He was trying to
be a good sport, but, dear Lord, even the king of players could only do so
much.
“You two troublemakers quit it now!” my dad yelled across the room.
“We’re reminiscing, Freddy, relax!” Judith yelled back. When Judith
not-so-discreetly reached down and grabbed Will’s ass, he carefully pushed
himself away, stumbling toward the DJ table and pulling the mic from the
stand.
“Hanna!” The microphone squealed with feedback and everyone slapped their
hands over their ears. The DJ abruptly stopped the music, and silence
roared through the room. Will seemed completely unfazed. “Hanna. Look at
me.”
We turned to look at her where she stood across the room, talking to Mina.
Her eyes had gone wide, and she shook her head slightly at him. “Oh, God,
” she whispered.
“Remember that thing I alluded to on the plane?” he asked, eyes glued to
her.
A tiny smile played at her lips. “Jog my memory, Player Will.”
He squeezed his eyes closed, took a deep breath before looking back at her,
and said, “Marry me?”
I was clearly not the only person to gasp. It felt like the entire room did
it in unison. As if anticipating my needs, Bennett reached into his pocket
and handed me a handkerchief. Across the room, I saw Max do the same thing
for Sara. But whereas she took it and thanked him, I batted Bennett’s hand
away.
“Sorry, Chloe,” Will said, looking as though he wasn’t even sure he was
awake and doing this in front of fifty people. “I realize my timing sucks.
”
“Don’t you dare interrupt this moment to talk to me!” I called out,
gesturing wildly to Hanna across the room. “Keep going! This is the best
thing to happen so far tonight.”
Bennett dug his fingers into my shoulder, laughing darkly next to me. “You
’re in trouble for that.”
Hanna took a few steps closer and the dance floor between her and Will
cleared. “Are you asking me this because you’re afraid of the handsy
cougars on the dance floor?”
“A little,” Will admitted, nodding frantically. He swallowed thickly and
repeated in a squeak, “A little. But I’ve wanted to ask every day, and
every day I get scared.” Holding up his hand before she could misinterpret
his words, he hastily added, “Not because I’m not sure. But because I
want you to be as sure as I am.”
I watched as Hanna walked across the room, took the mic from Will’s
shaking hand, put it back into the stand, and stretched to kiss him before
saying something that none of us heard, but that made Will Sumner smile
more widely than I’d ever seen him smile.
The guests broke out in roaring cheers and Bennett signaled to the caterer
to bring trays of champagne around. Music pulsed, heavy and wild from the
speakers, and the dance floor quickly grew packed with bodies.
Bennett stood and looked down at me. “Let’s go dance, Almost–Mrs. Ryan.
”