“Is that the bullshit line you used on Gray?”
A smile pulls at my lips and the way he watches nearly has me melting into a ball at his feet, making me wonder for the millionth time how he managed to have such a hold over me. Who would have ever known that I’d have such a weakness for asshole guys with alpha complexes? “Trust me, you’re not ready for the lines I’ve used on him.”
“No, Winter,” he says, his voice filled with authority as his fingers pinch at my waist. “You’re not ready. Now let’s go. I have a ball to escort you to.”
Without another word, Carver’s hands fall from my waist and he steps around me, disappearing straight through the door. My heart races and I brush my hands down my dress, giving myself a moment to collect my thoughts.
I step back in front of the mirror and quickly scan my gaze over my beautiful dress. This right here is as good as it’s ever going to get.
“Are you coming or what?” Carver calls.
I groan and follow him out the door. “I should have known letting you escort me wasn’t going to be anywhere near as good as it sounded.”
“Bullshit,” he fires back from the top of the stairs. “You’re having the time of your fucking life.”
I roll my eyes as I step into his side and he instantly takes my hand to help me down the stairs. He’s right, I am having the time of my life, but I’m not about to go admitting that to him. There’s just something about this playful, teasing version of Carver that makes me feel as though there might just be a future between us. It gives me hope, and damn it, I know all too well that hope can be a dangerous thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I also love that moody version of him. When he throws me up against the wall and loses control, he oozes sex appeal, and if I wasn’t pretending to hate him so much, I would have let him have his wicked way with me ages ago. Sex with Carver when he’s in a mood like that … shit. Now that would be the definition of explosive.
We reach the bottom of the stairs and I don’t miss the way that he doesn’t release my hand as we walk to the front door and then down to his Escalade that waits patiently for us. “King called,” he murmurs as we hit the final step. “Ember arrived about ten minutes ago. They’re keeping an eye on her for you.”
A beaming smile lights up my face and I turn to meet his stare. “Oh, good,” I breathe, feeling the excitement drumming inside me. “She’s going to have a great time. This is the kind of shit she lives for.”
“Most chicks do.”
I shake my head. “Most, but not me.”
“You’re not excited?”
“Not in the least. The last big Dynasty party ended up with me in a cell. Not to mention that Tobias said I had to give some ridiculous speech and that’s really not my thing.” A devilish grin stretches over my lips as we reach Carver’s Escalade, and he reaches out to open the door for me. “I’m more excited about what happens after.”
“I don’t want to know,” he mutters under his breath, helping me up into the car and going above and beyond to shove all the tulle in after me so it doesn’t get stuck in the door.
“Maybe you should.”
Carver meets my stare and watches me for a minute, his emotions screaming loudly in his eyes. Without another word, he steps back and closes the door between us. As he walks around to the driver’s side, I take a breath, knowing the second he opens his door and climbs in, this car is going to fill with an unbreakable tension.
It takes less than three seconds for the tension to hit me, and as he gets in and closes his door, my heart begins to race. Carver quickly glances my way as he starts the engine, and not a second later, we’re sailing down my long driveway.
We hit the road in no time, but when Carver pulls right up to the main gate of the communal private road, I look his way. “Is this not happening here?” I ask, recalling the massive party room we’d been in during my initiation ceremony.
He shakes his head. “No, the venue here is too small.”
My eyes bug out of my head. “Too small?”
“Mmhmm, this is going to be every member who’s ever walked through Dynasty and their extended families, starting right from those original families who helped found Dynasty. Their children grew up, married, and had children of their own, and in most families, this goes back three, some four generations. There’s going to be at least two thousand people there tonight.”