eyes when they’d seen me in it earlier.
Once I finished I stepped back into the dress and pulled the straps up before exiting the stall to wash my hands.
I didn’t even have to ask him to zip me back up, his fingers already sliding the zipper back into place and even giving the material of my dress a tug to make sure it was sitting right.
“Oona might be out of a job if you keep this up,” I teased, turning to pull him in for a quick kiss. “Tell me, how are you at doing makeup?”
Rhodes’ eyes crinkled in the corner as his lips turned up into a small smile. “Pretty terrible.”
“Rats, I guess we’ll just have to keep letting Oona do it.” I straightened the bowtie of his tuxedo and the lapels of this jacket before reaching up to wipe the gloss that had smeared on his lips from our kiss before giving his chest a pat. “We better get back out there before Edison sends out an Amber alert.”
Rhodes pulled the handle of the door, opening it for me and I stepped back in the hallway just in time to make eye contact with a familiar face.
“Well, this is interesting,” the woman standing in front of us said in lightly accented English.
“Yulia.” Rhodes’ voice was flat as he shut the bathroom door behind us.
“Last time I checked, weren’t you married to a different man?” Yulia’s blue eyes seemed to glitter with glee as she put a hand on her hip. The woman was dressed in a too-tight blue dress that hugged every curve like she’d been sewn into it.
The two times I’d seen her before, the woman had looked meek, letting her much older husband yank her around at will, but now she seemed almost dangerous as she sized me and Rhodes up like a lion about to pick off gazelles from a herd.
“He’s my bodyguard,” I explained as if it was obvious why he would be in the bathroom with me. Despite my bravado, my heart was in my throat as panic began to sink it.
It was stupid of me to pull Rhodes into the bathroom at such a public event. We were supposed to be keeping our relationship a secret and I let my need for the alpha get the better of me.
“I see,” Yulia purred. “Funny because, in all my years as a member of the Keane family, none of my bodyguards follow me anywhere quite as close. But my husband is also much older, so I understand wanting to have a handsome man like Rhodes with you.”
“He’s just making sure I’m protected,” I insisted, wishing I could find a way to end this conversation and hurry back to Edison. He would know how to fix this situation with that silver-tongue of his and neither Rhodes nor I were anywhere half as good at talking our way out of things like this.
“My husband isn’t as delicious as yours though,” Yulia continued, ignoring my words as she crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her long blonde curls over one shoulder with a flick of her head. “Tell me, does Edison still press his mouth into your ear when he’s about to come?”
I felt Rhodes stiffen behind me as a flash of heat filled my chest. This heat had nothing to do with desire or lust like it normally would. No, this was different. This was pure unadulterated rage.
I’d gotten the feeling that there was something between my husband and this woman on the first day that I’d met her. I’d written it off quickly, though, as I was the one with the ring on my finger and she was married to someone else entirely.
But that was before I had feelings for him. When our partnership was just that: a partnership.
Now the confirmation of it made every cell in my body angry and I wanted nothing more than to tear the sudden smirk off of the woman’s face because Edison did press his mouth to my ear when he was getting close.
“Yulia, you’re going to want to turn and walk away now,” Rhodes growled, clearly seeing the shift in my demeanor.
“Why? It’s not like Miss Chandler cares when she’s too busy in the bathroom fucking the help.”
My hand shot out before I could even register all of her words, cracking across the woman’s cheek loud enough that it echoed off of the tall ceilings in the hallway.
“That’s Mrs. Keane to you,” I hissed, my inner omega practically begging me to go in for another slap. “And don’t forget that I am the wife of the leader of your husband’s family. I can make your life a living hell, Yulia, so I’d suggest you keep my husband’s name out of your fucking mouth and work on keeping your senior citizen happy.”
“Pet,” Edison’s voice greeted me as he approached, his concern filtering down the bond to me but doing little to soothe the licking flames threatening to overtake me. “I’m not against you slapping whoever you want, but maybe doing it in public isn’t such a good idea.”
His hand slid along my back and for a brief moment I wanted to lean into his touch and let him calm me down, but then Yulia’s earlier words echoed in my mind and I was angry all over again.
I turned my ire to him, feeling his confusion through the bond, though he still had his usual playful smile on his face that did little to ease my frustration with him. “She earned every bit of that slap and unless you explain to me exactly how you know this woman in the next thirty seconds you’re about to get one too.”
Edison’s mouth opened with shock as his dark brows drew together in confusion.
“He knows me very well, don’t you, Edison,” Yulia had the gall to purr as I waited for him to answer.
I turned to swing at her again, but Edison put a hand on my arm to stop me. “Yulia you’re no longer needed in this conversation,” Edison said, his voice cold.
Yulia opened her mouth to argue, but his gold eyes pinned her in place as he glared at her. “Don’t forget that the only reason you are standing here in front of me is sheer, dumb luck, Yulia. Don’t test my patience or I’ll finish what I started four years ago.”
The woman’s blue eyes rounded with fear as she finally seemed to get the memo. She skirted around us and fled back towards the ballroom, disappearing around the corner and leaving us alone.
“Your hand is all red,” Edison tutted, lifting the palm that had just been used to slap Yulia up to examine it.
I tugged it from his grasp and stepped back into Rhodes’ chest, letting him put his hands on my shoulders to steady me.
“Explain.” I’d never ordered Edison around like this before, but I knew he could feel my anger through the bond.
The sound of loud laughter came from down the hall and Edison glanced in the direction of it before finally giving in with a sigh. “Fine, but not here.”
He held a hand out to me, but I ignored it, bypassing his hand and striding in front of him.
I didn’t know where I was going, but luckily Rhodes seemed to as he sped up his steps to catch up with me. Edison brought up the rear, muttering something under his breath.
Rhodes led the way past the regular elevators and to a set of black doors, pulling a keycard out of his jacket and holding it to the sensor before gesturing for me to step inside.
“What is this?” I asked as the doors shut behind us. The elevator rose and rose and then rose some more until it stopped on a floor marked ‘P’ and dinged cheerfully before opening into a beautiful suite.
