Landlord Wars(63)

Muscles tense, a light perspiration covering his forehead, the dam finally broke. He tensed, and a low moan vibrated against my neck where his face was pressed.

He kissed me while easing in and out, and his chest thumped like crazy against my own.

After a moment, he sank beside me and tucked me against his side. “I’m putting a lock on the rooftop. No one else is welcome.”

I smiled against his chest. “Jack might object.”

“Just wait and see. Coded deadbolts are going on tomorrow. It’s our love nest, and no one else is allowed.” He slid his fingers up and down my arm in a lazy caress. For a moment, I thought he might have fallen asleep, and then he said, “What do you have planned tomorrow?”

I lifted my head and looked at him. “The ball?”

His expression fell. “Shit.”

“You forgot?”

He rubbed his slightly stubbled jaw. It had to be close to midnight, and he’d started to grow a beard. “I was distracted.” His grin was ridiculously endearing. “Might have had a momentary lapse in memory due to passionate sex.”

I laughed. “I’m going to remember that the next time I want you to forget something.”

He perked up. “Promise?”

I smacked him in the chest, and he rolled over and started kissing me all over my face. “Starting tonight, I’m coming up with a list of things you’ll want me to forget,” he said as I belly-laughed beneath him.





Chapter Twenty-Nine





Sophia





I was nervous. Nauseated, shaky hands, heart-racing nervous.

I stared at myself in the mirror. The dress Jack helped me pick out was classy, in deep emerald silk satin, the length nearly touching the floor. The fit was column, with the waist in the same material cutting in like a wide belt. Pleats in the bodice made my bust look more proportional, and it featured a collar neckline, so there was no cleavage nor leg anywhere. But the gown didn’t need to show those things, because it was sexy in its simplicity and cut.

The quality was excellent and more luxurious than anything I’d ever owned. It shouldn’t cause a negative stir among San Francisco’s finest. And yet I felt like a girl from the Sunset District mingling with people she had no business being around.

It didn’t help that Max had called this afternoon and asked if Jack could take me tonight. He’d seemed nervous, and I could tell he was conflicted.

“Something came up,” he said. “My parents managed to get a meeting with someone from the city who could help get Cityscape back on track, but I won’t be able to escort you to the ball.”

Attending the ball without Max ratcheted up my nerves, but I understood how important this project was not only to him but also to the city. “Of course you should go,” I said. “Don’t worry about me.”

Apparently, Jack attended all the balls with Max and his family, as though he were one of the upper class. And if Jack could do it, I could too.

Now I just needed to believe that.

Jack stopped at the door to my room and leaned his shoulder against the frame. With his hair combed back, he looked extremely dapper in a simple black tuxedo.

He nodded slowly and whistled. “Looking good, Soph.”

I flattened my hand down the front of the dress. “You promise I’ll blend in?”

“No way will you blend,” he said proudly. “You’ll stand out.”

Panic filled my chest, and I swallowed hard. “But I don’t want to stand out.”

“Too late. All the rich yuppies will try to steal you from Max, and Max will turn into a beast and tear them apart.” At my shocked expression, he said, “Not physically. But they’ll suffer because Max fights dirty. He’ll steal their ill-gotten properties. Do not go up against Maxwell Burrows. Unless you’re Sophia Markos, apparently. You’ve turned my beastly friend into a puppy dog.”

And then it occurred to me. “How did you find out we were dating?”

Jack made a disbelieving sound. “That guy doesn’t ruffle over anything, and he’s been acting like a lunatic from the moment you moved in. I knew there was something going on weeks ago.”

Internally, I smiled, and my chest filled with warmth. Max had been giving me a hard time since the day we met, and I’d been dishing it right back. That was the best part about dating him—watching the stoic man turn soft and gooey.

Though only in hindsight did I enjoy this. For a while there, I wanted to drop-kick him.

I reached for a black satin purse that was one of the few items I considered truly invaluable. Passed down from my mother, who’d received it from her mother, it had an understated vintage look with tiny black pearls along the closure. The clutch didn’t completely go with my new gown, but it worked. More important, it gave me courage to have something of my mother’s with me tonight.

We made our way from our apartment to the street, where a white limousine was waiting. I turned to Jack. “Did you arrange this?”

He scoffed. “Of course not. You do remember who you’re dating, don’t you?” Jack opened the back door, not waiting for the driver to make his way around. “Your boyfriend insisted. He’s been harassing me for the last hour to make sure you’re okay and to get you there on time.”