Landon didn’t protest.
He glanced out at the cityscape as though it didn’t matter, but his fingers began to drum over his thigh.
Ten minutes later, when they arrived at the top floor of the San Antonio Daily, the noise was deafening. Eighty people circulated in the office space, if not more. Balloons had been hung from the ceiling. Computer screens held birthday greetings and songs were blaring from speakers. People wore funny hats.
It warmed Beth to witness this, to know that Landon was so respected his people would do this for him. It made her proud to walk next to him.
“Goodness, your people love you,” she exclaimed, wide-eyed.
He cocked one sleek eyebrow. “Surprised?”
“Amazed,” she admitted, and impulsively reached up to smooth back a strand of dark hair that had fallen on his forehead. “But not in the least bit surprised.”
This seemed to please him, and his grip tightened on her elbow as he guided her across the hall.
Of course, his brothers were present, too. Situated right in the center of it all. Julian John uncorked the champagne, pouring the liquid into dozens of glasses, then took a swig directly from the bottle and kept it to himself. Clad all in black, which suited his dark good looks, Garrett was fighting with Kate over who got to wear the silly hat she kept planting over his head. Beth doubted Kate was catering, but she was there because she was practically family to the Gages, had grown up in their household when her father, the Gages’ bodyguard, had been killed in the line of duty.
Landon greeted everyone by name and introduced Beth as his wife, and he put his arm around her. Beth felt shy and self-conscious, but when the partygoers returned to their mingling and Landon focused on her, holding her lightly against him, all her awkwardness melted under a creamy swirl of excitement.
“This is a really nice party,” she whispered, touching his arm briefly as she said this.
The candidness in Landon’s gaze affected her almost as much as the whisper of his fingertip trailing along her jaw. “It’s even nicer with you in it.”
A shiver raced through her, impossible to suppress.
God, what was happening between them?
Neither seemed to stop touching each other, neither seemed to stop staring, to want to put distance between them or be anywhere else but near.
Before she made a fool of herself, Beth told her husband the sweets buffet called to her and managed a smooth escape, leaving Landon with his mother.
“Never seen him smile like today,” an older woman hovering by the candy, who’d been introduced as Julian’s assistant, told Beth. “Mr. Landon, I mean. And all the girls and I agree it’s because of you.”
Landon smiling…
Because of her?
The thought moved her so powerfully Beth couldn’t speak through the ball of emotion in her throat. Because Landon Gage not only made her happy sometimes, too, but he also made her ache. Ache for him. For more.
She picked through the sweets and popped a handful of dried cranberries into her mouth, but they did little to appease the building urge to scan the room and find him.
She wanted him.
Admired him.
Loved his attitude, his strength, his dynamism. Loved his eyes, his face, even the way he scowled. She loved his… She loved all of him.
Oh, God, love, she thought with a wrenching in her stomach.
She loathed to think that this was how it felt—the helpless, excited, burning and frightened sensation she got every time she saw and thought about and stood near Landon.
“Blow it, brother!” Garrett cheered as they surrounded him near the three-tiered cake and the pair of flaming candles that boasted the big blue number 33.
Chuckling softly while shaking his head, Landon positioned himself at the end of the long table. That flattering white polo shirt really suited him, Beth thought dreamily from afar. He had such a thick, bronzed neck, his shoulders so hard—
“Beth!” Kate called her. “Get over there next to Lan for a picture. He won’t bite you.” She stuck her tongue out and held up the camera. “Not that I can say the same for the cake.”
Landon trapped her gaze from across the room. Was it caring she saw in his incredible eyes?