Page 58 of The Billionaire's Angel

Chapter Twenty-Four

Gage

The last fewdays before Charlie’s wedding flew by in a blur as every available person rushed around following the increasingly strident orders of the wedding planner. By the time the day arrived, we were all a little shell-shocked. Even after all the preparation, I wasn’t ready for the sight of my baby cousin in a weddingdress.

I liked Lucas Jackson well enough. If Charlie had to marry anyone, I'd rather it was Jackson than one of the overprivileged brats she’d dated before him. Those guys had no idea how to handle Charlie. She was smart, confident, and gorgeous. A lot of men found her intimidating, but notLucas.

If the way he looked at Charlie was any indication, he loved every part of her like crazy. Watching her walk down the aisle on Aiden's arm, in a flowing white dress straight from a fairytale, my heart broke a little. Our parents should have been there. She should have been on Uncle Hugh'sarm.

I'd dreamed of them more than once in the past week, all of us more aware of their loss than usual. I’d caught Charlie alone with Aiden earlier that day, her head on his shoulder, tears in her eyes as he murmured in her ear. I knew without asking that she was missing her parents. Aiden, as he always did, was trying his hardest to fill the gap. To be both mother and father now that they weregone.

I felt a sharp pang of guilt in my heart, watching them. I had a little sister, too. Annalise hadn’t been as young as Charlie when I’d left — seventeen to Charlie’s ten — but I’d abandoned her all the same. If I’d been around, would she have been running all these years? I’d neverknow.

I couldn’t unmake the past, but the future wasmine.

Whatever Aiden said to Charlie must have worked, because she walked down the aisle of the church with a wide smile on her face. Lucas stared at her as if she were a dream come to life, and the kiss he gave her after they'd said their vows hadn't exactly been acceptable for church. I don't think hecared.

Now that we were back at the house for the reception, I was determined to get a kiss of my own. Sophie wasn’t so sure. Behind the curtain, she wriggled in my arms, trying to getfree.

“Where do you think you're going?” I asked, looking down at her. When I'd picked her up at her bedroom door earlier in the evening, I’d been struck dumb. I was used to her daily uniform of camp shirts and jeans or her white cotton nightgowns. She was gorgeous in either. Everything about Sophie wasbeautiful.

With her silvery blonde hair piled on top of her head and her curvy body poured into an elegantly form-fitting navy dress, she was a knockout. I'd been struggling all night to keep my hands off ofher.

“We can't hide here in the curtains,” Sophie protested, leaning back to look up atme.

“Not if you keep wiggling like that,” I agreed. The living room wasn't as full as the front hall and dining room. The latter had been converted into a ballroom after we'd hauled the table and chairs into the garage, and most of the guests were there, dancing and drinking and generally having a great time. But we weren't alone in the living room, and if Sophie didn't stay still, we were going to getcaught.

Sophie stopped moving, and her eyes went wide as she realized the voices filtering through the thick layers of silk came from people only feet away. Before she could protest again, I dropped my head and kissedher.

I could kiss Sophie for hours. Days. I loved fucking her, the way she went wild when I had her naked, and I was inside her. But with Sophie, just kissing her was better than anything I'd ever had with anotherwoman.

Her mouth fit mine like she'd been born just for me, her soft full lips parting in welcome. The stroke of her tongue against mine made my knees weak. She was a lot shorter than me, an issue we usually solved by getting horizontal. Not a workable plan behind the curtains, but I was a good problemsolver.

Her dress had a slit up one side, and I took advantage, running my hand over her hip until I found the place where the fabric parted. I slid my hand beneath, pulling the dress to her waist and lifting her in my arms. Bracing her back against the wall, I let myself fall into the kiss, taking her mouth over andover.

She slid her arms around me with a barely audible moan, one hand gripping my shoulder and the other buried in my hair as she pressed her body to mine. Those soft, full breasts pillowed against my chest, and I thought about later, when I would lay her across her bed and strip off all of this dark blue silk to bare her soft curves to my hands andmouth.

I hitched her up against me tighter, grinding my now hard cock into the heat between her legs, her whimper of pleasure driving me a little out of my head. I curled my hand over her ass, letting my fingertips dip into her pussy and she criedout.

I froze as, behind us, a woman said, “Did you hearthat?”

Sophie went stiff in my arms. I tore my mouth from hers, and pressed my lips to her shoulder, both of us breathing hard and trying to hideit.

Annalise’s voice, laden with amusement, said, “I didn't hear anything. You must bemistaken.”

“No, I'm sure I heard something. Is there someone behind the curtain?” the woman asked, torn between curiosity andoutrage.

I didn't mind being caught making out with Sophie, but Sophie would be appalled. Unfortunately, in our current situation, there wasn't a lot I could do if someone decided to cross the room and whip back the heavycurtains.

Annalise, somehow keeping her laughter at bay, came to therescue.

“Oh no, I’m sure there's not,” she said. Then, after a short pause, “Is that someone tapping a champagne glass? I think they might be getting ready to cut thecake.”

High heels clicked on the hardwood as Annalise herded the woman out of the living room. I risked a peek to confirm we were alone before pulling back thecurtain.

“We almost got caught,” Sophiehissed.

I kissed her temple and murmured, “I won't let you get caught,Angel.”