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“Sutton?” He repeated my name and I felt goosebumps erupt all over my body. His voice was all sexy seduction.
“Yes?”
Damn it. Why had that sounded like a question instead of a statement? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Yes,” I said firmly, nodding my head.
He let out a visible sigh of relief.
Strangely, I felt myself relax along with him. I was about to ask him again about his drink when his arm shot out and his long thick fingers curled around my wrist. The surge of electricity before was nothing compared to the fireworks erupting in my midsection from his touch. His hand felt like it was branding me. I barely heard him when he uttered, “It’s about damn time.”
Chapter Two
Sutton
You didn’t grow up the way I had around men and let some stranger put his hands on you. I was about to hand the fancy city slicker his ass when Mad Max flew across the room and held a fork to the handsome man’s neck.
Trust Max to attack with a kitchen utensil.
“Get your damn hand off of her,” Max snarled menacingly. “We don’t handle women that way.”
Because the man hadn’t let go of my arm, I was now bent at a rather strange angle. Nonetheless, I felt a surge of affection for Max. It meant a lot to me that he cared.
“I’ve got this, Max,” I said, but it was like I hadn’t even spoken.
Throughout this, the stranger didn’t even flinch despite the fact that the tines of the fork were pressed against his jugular.
“Charming,” the handsome stranger said in an even tone. “I assume this is a friend of yours?”
Max growled at him and shoved the fork harder against the stranger’s neck. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alice and Reena staring on with wide eyes. The last thing I wanted was for this to escalate any further. I tried to nudge Max to the side with my foot, but he wasn’t about to move.
Couldn’t he see that I wasn’t in any danger? In what I hoped was a calm voice, I said, “This is Max. He’s going to put the fork down now.” That elicited a growl from Max, but I kept going. “He was a friend of my daddy’s back in the day.”
The stranger’s brow rose in surprise before a look of incredulity entered his eyes. “Somehow I doubt that to be true.”
A spark of anger lit inside of me.
“Look, I don’t know why this is any of your business. I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t owe you any explanations.” I yanked my wrist to free, and this time he let it go.
I could still feel the imprint of his fingers and rubbed my wrist absentmindedly. I wondered why it hadn’t bothered me more. Usually I wasn’t a fan of people touching me.
Besides Max, the last person to hug me was Ruth Ann when my mama passed away. She hugged me so tight and whispered that one day I would understand my mama better.I understand my mama just fine,I had thought to myself. Hell, I knew her a whole lot better than most. But I just smiled and nodded appreciatively at Ruth Ann. She meant well, and besides, Ruth Ann had known Mama before she got sick, before the men, and before the drugs.
Max growled at the stranger with such vicious intent that I started to wonder if he just might fork the man after all.
“Listen punk, just who the hell are you?”
Neither man was backing down.
“Is there a problem over here?” Gabriel rushed over to see what the fuss was all about. As soon as he saw me, a look of disgust crossed his face.
Bastard.
The stranger’s cool gray eyes stared into my own. My heart thudded wildly in my chest and I felt as if I had been running. It was the strangest response that I had ever had to a man. I took a hesitant step backward.
The stranger spoke. His deep voice was clear and insistent. “Your father was Hollingsworth Sutton, III, renowned billionaire, owner of Sutton Enterprises, and my former boss. To my knowledge he never once rode a motorcycle. For the most part, he didn’t even drive himself. I don’t know what this Max has told you, but he was no friend of your father.”
Perhaps it was the intensity with which he spoke, but Max paled and moved away from the stranger, dropping the fork to the ground.