The words came from the very heart of her and she looked up at Dominic as she spoke. “She knew it was worth fighting for. That they would have been stronger than everything that tried to break them.” Her fingers twisted into his when he silently took her hand. “That sometimes you have to overcome your fears and reach out for what you really want. Because no matter what happens in the end, you’ll never regret a single moment. It’s always worth it. It’s the only thing that matters, really.”
Rosie made another soft sound.
Someone knocked on the door, just once, very politely.
Nobody moved; then, finally, Johnny bent to straighten Rosie’s skirts for her. “Duty calls,” he said quietly.
Unlike Pet, Dominic considered this ball a final hurdle in the competition, not a reward for said work. He would admit, however, that the premier ballroom in St. Giles Palace was a stunning example of Georgian architecture, he appreciated excellent food that he didn’t have to prepare himself—and he had the most beautiful woman in the room in his arms.
He looked down into Sylvie’s eyes as they moved to the music of the band. In the dim, romantic lighting, her irises looked dark. Given all the circumstances, this felt a little like dancing while the ship burnt around them, but he wanted the comfort of her body and touch.
God, they’d come a long way.
The woman who had driven him absolutely batshit four years ago, who had opened a rival business in direct view of his own, who was solely responsible for over a million people watching a YouTube clip of him being unicorned in the face, was the love of his life.
Still totally surreal.
The band switched to a more up-tempo song, and he startled a peal of laughter from Sylvie when he suddenly twirled her.
“I should have known you were full of shit when you claimed to be a poor dancer,” she said when he brought her back in against his chest. “With the possible exception of people-ing, you’re good at everything. It’s very irritating.”
But “people-ing” was a pretty significant thing to fuck up, when it resulted in the sort of hurt he’d seen in Pet’s face yesterday.
He was determined to be a good partner, but he continued to prove an absolute bloody failure of a brother.
The drummer launched into a solo, and Dominic glanced over at the mocked-up stage.
In the unlikely event that Pet showed up tonight, she’d be thrilled. The average person streamed their favorite music for their birthday. Princesses scored the Grammy winners live and in person, and this particular group had been playing on Pet’s phone on repeat for weeks.
Sylvie’s fingers touched the back of his neck above his shirt collar, and that shiver wound down his spine. Increasingly familiar, yet never failing to startle in its intensity.
“She’ll come,” she said softly.
He pulled her closer. Spoke into her hair. “I hope so.”
Over her head, through the crowds, he saw a familiar figure come through the main doorway and look around with an air of intense anxiety.
Sylvie shifted to look up at him. “You okay?”
He turned them so she could see where he was looking.
She saw Jay at the same time her best friend spotted them. She took a quick breath as her mouth quivered.
Apparently unconsciously, her hand slid across his shoulder to hold on to his bow tie.
Jay also seemed to take a steadying breath before he moved toward them. He edged through the well-dressed crowds, wrinkling his nose when he passed the woman who must have bathed in her perfume.
The closer he came, the more Sylvie tensed.
“It’s okay,” Dominic said. “It’ll be all right. All of it.”
Her eyes moved to his. “Promise?”
The question was forcibly light, half ironic.
He didn’t look away from her. “Yes. I promise.”
Her fingers tightened on him.
A few feet away, Jay cleared his throat. “May I cut in?”
Sylvie squeezed Dominic’s arm before she nodded.
Jay looked at Dominic. His expression was completely unreadable, but it was clear that Dominic wasn’t high on his list of favorite people. The feeling was mutual.
And for the sake of the woman standing between them, it was something they’d both have to get the fuck over.
“I assume you’re not looking at me for permission,” he said coolly. “Because she doesn’t need me to give it, and I’d probably get another cake to the face if I tried. But of course she wants to dance with you. You’re a vital part of her life and always will be.”
Jay blinked.
As Dominic stroked his fingers calmly, gently, down Sylvie’s back and moved away, he said in a low voice, “As much as you hate my guts, we both have a vested interest in Sylvie’s happiness. She’s so worried about you that she’s physically shaking. If you hurt her—then you and I have a serious problem.”
He left it, and them, at that.
Sylvie hesitantly took Jay’s hand, resting her other arm lightly on his shoulder as they moved into the dance.
He looked typically tall and handsome in his tux, the lights playing over his hair and cheeks.
Their eyes met—and she could have cried in the middle of the dance floor.
Because the man looking back at her wasn’t a cold, distant stranger. He was Jay.
“‘If Sugar Fair ever closes,’” he quoted her huskily, from what now seemed a million years ago, “‘it’ll be at our instigation.’” His hand tightened on her waist. “But it won’t ever be at my instigation. I’m sorry I even went there, Syl. And after all the shit I’ve given you about keeping emotions out of business. I promise you right now—I will give one hundred percent to our company, now and always. We will share those decisions, and successes, and all the bloody stress that comes with it.”
Her eyes briefly fluttered closed. “I’m so glad to hear you say that. Because it wouldn’t be Sugar Fair without you. This is our journey, to take together.” She hesitated, tried to relax her fingers against his shoulder. “But—”
Jay broke in before she could put the rest of her fears into words. “I—” He cleared his throat. “I couldn’t sleep last night because I felt so shit about everything that happened. And the . . . the barrier that suddenly sprang up between us, it just felt—”
“Wrong.”
“So wrong.” His lips pulled into a grimace. “Sylvie, I love you.”
She didn’t flinch, didn’t look away from him.
“And there’s one aspect of that love that is not what you need, and is not going to be good for me, either. It’s something I’ll be talking about with a family member I trust and with my therapist as I move forward and I hope past it, but this is the last time I’m ever going to talk about it with you.” A muscle in his cheek leapt, but his voice was now very firm. “I can’t pretend that in the short term I’m going to find this easy, especially when . . .” He jerked his head very slightly toward the bar, where Dominic was now talking, extremely unenthusiastically, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. “But above all else, I’m your best friend. And the rest of my love? It’s unconditional, it’s everlasting, and I fucking want you to be happy.”