Jacked Up (Bowen Boys #4)(51)

Shaking his head, he let her go.

Elle stepped out of the car, straightened her gown, and took the arm he was offering.

“Just so you know, you also look like the hottest, sexiest and most aggravatingly beautiful Borg I’ve ever seen.” And she wasn’t the only one who thought so, because all the ladies they crossed paths with as they entered the lobby were eating him with their eyes. “The title of funniest you can’t claim, sorry,” she finished, winking at him.

Jack shook his head, the flash of a smile warming Elle’s insides.

Some of the Bowens were by the door of the ballroom, so they headed their way.

A man approached Jack and Elle, someone looking like a bodyguard on his heels. “Alex, qué bueno verte por aquí.”

Jack’s expression didn’t waver, but she noticed a slight tightening in the arm she was holding. Jack nodded in greeting and let out a torrent of words in what it sounded to Elle like perfect Spanish, shaking the stranger’s hand. Okay, so they were friends, but why the hell was this guy calling Jack Alex?

She smiled, hiding her surprise.

Then the man turned to her. “?Y esta belleza?” And this beauty?

Unlike Jack’s, his words in Spanish had a heavy American accent.

There was a silent warning in Jack’s touch, so Elle continued smiling and waited for his cues.

“This beauty is mine, and I won’t make the same mistake twice,” Jack answered in a light tone so un-Jack-like it was shocking.

The newcomer broke into laughter and taking Elle’s hand, kissed it. “Forgive Alex’s rudeness; he’s fiercely protective of his dates and I committed the ultimate sin of being more charming than him last time we run into each other. I’m David Exxum.”

“Nice to meet you.” This Jack was not the Jack she knew. He moved differently, and had a slight Spanish accent when speaking English, a cadence he didn’t have before. Unsure what she should or shouldn’t say, she opted for keeping her mouth shut and smiled.

“You here for the fund-raising?” David asked, gesturing down the hall, in the opposite direction.

Apparently there were two events in the hotel that evening.

At that moment Tate saw Elle and, flagging her, headed their way.

Jack didn’t move, and Elle didn’t notice any change in his expression, but James did, because he stopped dead in his tracks and called Tate back.

“Yes, we’re here for the fund-raiser. Shall we?” Jack offered, turning his back on the Bowens and walking toward the other ballroom. “Pet, didn’t you want to powder your nose? We’ll go ahead and wait for you there.”

That was her cue to bail.

“Sure, I—”

“Nonsense,” David interrupted, taking Elle by the elbow and gently pushing her forward. “The lady is stunning. Any more and she would blind us. And I don’t want to miss the opportunity to make such an entrance.”

She threw a fast glance backward, toward where Annie’s party was. Aunt Maggie had noticed them and was heading their way waving. James rushed behind her, but he wasn’t going to be able stop the old lady in time.

“Elle, here,” she heard Aunt Maggie call from the other side of the hallway, raising her voice.

“No need to powder my nose,” she hurried to say.

There was something in David’s touch that gave her the creeps, but hiding her apprehension, Elle smiled reassuringly and walked with him into the crowd, feeling Jack’s ominous presence behind her.



Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Jack kept his face inscrutable as his mind raced. Elle had been quick on the uptake, improvising like a pro, but the last place he wanted her in was that damn fund-raiser with Exxum and his people.

He was dying to rip Exxum’s hand off for touching her, but he tamped his fury down. He knew that bastard very well and such move would only spike his interest in her.

The second David let her elbow go to take the flutes of champagne the waiter was offering, Jack reached for Elle and brought her flush to him. She went eagerly, intertwined her fingers with his.

Jack smiled and gave her a kiss under the hollow of her ear. “Follow my cues,” he whispered discreetly.

“Can’t keep your hands off her, I see,” David commented with a laugh. “Not that I fault you. You, my dear, are astonishingly beautiful. What was your name?”

Shit. Before Jack could come up with an answer, Elle said with a smile, “Pet. He had me chipped when I wasn’t looking.”

David threw his head back and laughed while another waiter approached them with snacks.

“Do try,” David encouraged Elle. “I myself took care of ordering the catering from Luxury Delights. Best vegan products available. One hundred percent organic. Eating animals is so cruel and unnecessary.”

Right. The * couldn’t stomach eating an animal but didn’t give a rat’s ass about all the humans his businesses ruined.

Elle smiled and took a morsel.

David did too. “I don’t believe the jails of a nation tell how civilized a country is. It’s the way its people treat animals that shows their level of evolution. Having to organize fund-raisers to get animals off the streets already proves we are at the bottom of the barrel.”

“Alex, my love,” Marissa, one of Exxum’s harem, said, reaching for him.