Page 140 of Unexpected Shot
“Let’s go,” Shelby says as she grabs her clutch purse. “Is this really just a gala so all the members can feel special?”
I laugh at her assessment, but she’s not wrong. “They bill it as the ‘Welcome Dinner,’ but essentially, yes. This is where the members with too much money on their hands—politicians, a few diplomats, those kinds of assholes—pay an absurd amount to eat dinner with us. I really don’t understand the point.”
“Oh, so it’s Willowmere on steroids."
“And put those steroids on another sort of speed,” I say. “But don’t worry, the second we can get out of there, we’re gone.”
“Promise?”
I turn around and bring her into me against the door. “Oh, Belle…the one promise you can count on tonight is that the second we can get out of there, we’re going to be up in this room and that dress is going to be on the floor.”
“Any other promises?”
I breathe through the fact that my vixen of a wife is taking the opportunity to run her hand over my dick.Witch.
“Yes. The heels? They stay on.”
“Holy shit, Shelby. You…look…” I feel like it takes a lot these days to shock Ethan, especially after Vegas. But based on how his eyes are bugging out of his head, he’s clearly never seen Shelby in anything but golf clothing. “You look incredible.”
“Eyes off, West,” I joke as I pull Shelby into my side, sending Ethan’s hands into a surrender position.
“I’d never.”
The two of us share a smile and a handshake, before he leans in to give Shelby a polite kiss on the cheek.
“In all seriousness, you both clean up well.”
"Thanks," I say, grabbing two flutes of champagne and passing one to Shelby, before I quickly put my arm back around her waist. "Thank you for coming."
“I never need an excuse to break out the tuxedo, but it’s always nice to have one,” he says as he looks around the elegant ballroom. Do most golf clubs have a ballroom lavish enough to host state dinners? No. Does this course care? Absolutely not. “Plus, this has the possibility of being a big weekend—either good or bad—for you. Felt like this was the right place to be.”
“Let’s hope good,” I say.
“I never know with you two.”
As if summoned, I see Kat and Grayson walking toward us, his hand on the small of her back as they part the sea of tuxedos and evening dresses to sweep through the crowd. They’re getting looks from everyone. This golf circle is small, and the two of them are clearly outsiders. Or maybe it’s because everyold man’s viagra is suddenly working overtime at the sight of Kat in a fitted dress. The woman is beautiful. But I also know if any of them tried to make a move, Grayson would have then flattened in seconds.
I get it. I get it one hundred percent.
"Thank you all for coming," I say. “Though I’m feeling a bit like the troublemaker who's only allowed to go out for recess if all of the teachers are monitoring.”
“That’s not exactly it,” Kat says, but the tone of her voice says I’m not far off. “Just consider this a safety net in case anything happens this weekend.”
“She’s really releasing the article soon?” Shelby asks.
“Any minute,” Grayson says. “I have alerts ready on my phone.”
When Shelby got the idea to sit down with Emily, and Emily agreed to run the story, our next phone call was to Ethan, Kat, and Grayson. We were clear that it wasn’t an opportunity for them to talk us out of it, but rather a warning that we were doing it, whether they liked it or not.
At first they were hesitant—Ethan especially. Which I get. His goal is to make us money. If we not only keep a public feud going, but escalate it, we aren’t very marketable. We’re messy. Companies don’t like that.
But when we explained the whole story to them—how Chad has been a thorn in our side for years, and as long as we’re together, we don’t see a world where he leaves us alone—they were ready to go to war with us. And then when Grayson got the tip that Emily was releasing the article heading into the biggest tournament of the season? We knew we had to be ready.
And we are. Just in tuxedos and dresses instead of khakis and polos.
“Did you get an early look?” Shelby asks, her hand seeking mine.
Grayson shakes his head. “No. But I asked if there was anything we needed to be ready for, hypothetically. Emilyassured me that anything that was going to be a bomb was aimed directly at Chad.”
