Reckless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #2)(53)
“Her dress,” Harper said. “It’s stunning.”
As far as Sebastian was concerned, stunning barely scratched the surface. The corset-style top fitted her like the fingers of a tight glove, the thin straps holding it up nothing more than decoration. A teardrop necklace nestled seductively in her cleavage. The strip of bare midriff below the top dried up his mouth. The waist cinched and the skirt flared over her hips, then fell in graceful, swishing folds to her calves, the scalloped hem longer in the back than the front. Even her ankles in the strappy high-heeled sandals were perfection.
“Is that—” someone, maybe Harper, started to ask.
Sebastian could only nod, unable to do more than stare in awe at the woman who had stolen his heart.
The outfit she’d chosen was as striking as anything she’d tried on in the designer shop, even the pearl dress, as much as he’d loved her in it. But it wasn’t the outfit that stunned her audience.
It was all Charlie.
The lobby had fallen into complete silence. No one had ever seen anything like her. In the span of sixty glorious seconds, Charlie Ballard had completely transcended the surgically enhanced society mob. To top it all, every single thing about her was real, inside and out.
He’d cherished her beauty all along, beneath the jeans and the T-shirts and the glorious never-seen-a-salon hair, but now he realized there were more sides to her than he could have imagined. Everyone had different facets, some they kept locked away. Sebastian had those hidden features too, like the part of him that needed to draw. He’d never been brave enough to let any but his closest friends see his sketches, but tonight Charlie was bravely letting all her hidden qualities and talents shine.
He was dying to show her off, to drink in the sweet seductive sound of her voice, to learn everything he could about her. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her, to touch her, inhale her scent, kiss her.
And—finally—make her completely his.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Charlie had spent way too much time on her hair, but she wasn’t used to the curling iron, let alone piling the mass of hair on top of her head. She’d had to watch several YouTube how-to videos to figure it out. But the time and effort had been more than worth it for the look on Sebastian’s face as she walked down the stairs.
She felt gloriously happy—every cell in her body yearning for Sebastian. At least, until she realized that the lobby had gone silent and absolutely everyone was staring at her. The pounding of her heart spiked higher as she gripped the rail and froze in place for a few moments.
Oh God, what was I thinking, trying to pull this off?
Feeling more than a little desperate, she looked back at Sebastian again. And suddenly everything was right. The admiration and pleasure in his eyes told her in no uncertain terms that she actually had pulled it off. As she’d fussed with her hair, her makeup, and her dress, she’d decided not only to play the siren for one night, but also to enjoy it. Now, with Sebastian’s gaze fortifying her and giving her the strength she’d momentarily lost in the face of this huge crowd, it was time to make good on that decision. No matter how difficult she found it to be at the center of all those assessing, judging gazes.
She was going to have fun, damn it! Even if it killed her.
As she descended the final step, Sebastian drew her against him. His murmured, “You take my breath away,” sent shivers through her body. She wished she could wear this dress only for him, and that he would sweep her away to their penthouse suite before she had to deal with the throng, all of them staring avidly.
At least she was lucky enough to meet his closest friends first. Sebastian had given Charlie the lowdown on the Mavericks during the drive over. Still, there were an awful lot of names and faces to keep straight. It didn’t help that his strong, protective hand was caressing the bare flesh of her back below the corset, making it difficult to focus on anything but the urge to drag him back upstairs and let him strip off her dress the way they both so desperately wanted.
Okay, Charlie, focus, she told herself with the first introduction.
Daniel Spencer, owner of the Top-Notch DIY chain of home improvement stores, was a dark-haired Tahoe mountain guy. He shook her hand, his grip warm and his tone sincere. “You have an incredible talent.”
“Thank you.” She’d seen how good the rams looked in front of the hotel, but it was still fabulous to hear that someone besides Sebastian agreed with her.
Next, Sebastian introduced her to Will Franconi and she immediately said, “Thank you so much for the china you sent over for my mother. She loved it. It was so kind of you.”
A dark Italian type as befitting his name, Will smiled with twinkling blue eyes. “You’re welcome. Although Harper picked them out.”
Charlie turned to the pretty blond woman on his arm. “Drinking out of those china mugs is one of my mother’s favorite parts of the day. Thank you for choosing such a lovely set.”
Harper smiled sweetly. “Sipping tea out of hand-painted bone china has now become a favorite part of my day too.”
Charlie made what she hoped was a normal sound in response. That, however, was becoming harder to do as Sebastian trailed a hand over her shoulder blade and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.
“Those cups are probably too fragile for Noah to use for an imaginary party, aren’t they?” asked a big, handsome man who she easily guessed was Matt Tremont, the father of five-year-old Noah.