When the bartender finally set the items on the counter, I grabbed the glasses by the stems, while Carter took the ice bucket with the wine bottle. Then he interlaced our free hands and led me through the crowd. He was holding me as if I belonged to him. My pulse thrummed in my ears as we made our way through the packed room, and then the terrace. We descended the marble steps and stepped into the garden. The crowd thinned the more distance we put between ourselves and the building.

“This garden is huge,” I commented.

“You’ve never been here before?”

“No. You?”

“Several times.”

We slowed our pace now that we’d escaped the crowd. Carter let go of my hand, pointing to a narrow alley lined with evergreens on both sides.

“This way.”

I walked next to him, enjoying the sudden quiet. It seemed a few degrees cooler too. We walked until we came upon an opening on the right side of the hedgerow.

“Wow.” We entered a smaller, private garden with a fountain in the middle. It had a circular edge made out of stone that was wide enough to sit.

“Can we sit there?”

“Sure.”

“Oh. I’ve been dying to sit all night.”

“After you.” He chuckled, keeping a hand on my lower back as we headed toward it. Now that we were alone, the contact felt different. Intimate.

As we sat down he uncorked the bottle and poured wine in each of the glasses, which we then clinked.

“How do you even know about this place?”

“This is open to visitors during the day. I brought April and Peyton here last year, and they gave us a tour of the gardens. And whenever I’m here for an event, I take a walk when I need a break.”

Alone? I wanted to ask. Or did he pick up someone at every event? I pushed that thought to the very back of my mind. How could he be so handsome? His dark hair was messy, as if he’d run his hand repeatedly through it tonight. Messy looked good on him, especially because it contrasted so starkly with the tux. He’d taken off the jacket at some point and was only wearing a shirt now. A white shirt that stretched over his abs and chest, showing off his sculpted muscles.

“Where are the girls tonight?”

“Home. They have a nanny who watches them in the afternoon and when I have commitments in the evening. April all but begged me to take her with me. I think rubbing elbows with celebrities earned me a few points in the cool department. Then I lost all of them when I told her she couldn’t come. But I’ve been to enough of these to know it’s no place for a fourteen-year-old, especially since I couldn’t keep an eye on her.”

That was cute.