“Steven, no!” Lydia screamed, grabbing his fist.
He shook her off and hauled back his arm. This time, he would have connected, but someone grabbed him from behind and yanked him backward. “What the hell is going on here?” Cooper asked, his voice hard.
Lydia fell to her knees beside Holt, her face pale. Her soft fingers touched him. “Are you okay? You hit your head.”
He caught her hand, squeezing. “I’m fine. I’ll have a headache, but I’ll be okay.”
“We should get you home so you can take a pill, just in case.” She pressed her lips together. “I mean, you should go home. And take a pill.”
“No, you had it right the first time,” he said. He swallowed hard when she wriggled her hand free and scooted away from him. “Lydia, please. I—”
Cooper cleared his throat. He still had his arm around Steven, who was glaring at them and shaking with the urge to kick ass. Holt knew him well enough to recognize the murderous glint in his hazel stare—the one that matched Lydia’s perfectly. “Would someone like to tell me why our work function turned into a soap opera?”
Steven flexed his jaw. “Let me go. You might be my boss, but it won’t stop me from kicking your ass to get to him. He’s messing around with my baby sister.”
“Steven,” Lydia snapped, her cheeks going red. She could feel all the attention at the party focused on her. “Enough.”
“I’m not messing around with your sister,” Holt said from between clenched teeth. He stared at Lydia, who watched him with wide eyes. “Can we talk…alone? Just give me one more chance to tell you why I did what I did. Please.”
Lydia hesitated, but then nodded once.
She’d give him that much, at least, but that was it. It was all he’d get, and he knew it. He swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
“Hell no.” Steven growled, wrestling to be free of Cooper. Everyone else had dispersed, giving them their privacy. It was just Steven, Lydia, Cooper, and him. “You’re not getting anywhere near her. No way in hell I’m letting her become another girl on your list.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Cooper rolled his eyes. “I swear when I fell in love with Kayla, I somehow became the love doctor of Shillings Agency.”
“Not her, Steven,” Holt said, finally turning away from the woman who held his heart in her hands, even if she didn’t know it. “She’s never been just another girl to me.”
Steven crossed his arms. “Meaning?”
You know exactly what I mean. “I-I…” Holt cleared his throat and took his glasses from Lydia, who had gathered them off the ground. “Meaning, I need to talk to your sister. I refuse to do this in public. This is between me and…” He looked at Lydia. “You. Just me and you. Us.”
“Us?” Lydia gripped her knees. “I didn’t know there was an us.”
Steven growled. “The hell there—”
“Dude.” Copper hauled him back again. “Don’t.”
Steven glowered. “Why the hell not?”
“Open your fucking eyes. They’re in love.”
“What?” Steven said, looking back and forth between Lydia and Holt. Neither one spoke. They were too busy having a stare down. “Oh. Shit.”
“Yeah. Exactly.” Cooper slung his arm over Steven’s shoulders. “Come on, I’ll get you a drink…or ten.”
They left, leaving Lydia and Holt alone.
Holt inched closer to Lydia, trying to gauge her reaction to Cooper’s statement about them being in love. He knew how he felt about her, but he didn’t have a fucking clue if she felt that way about him. It was time to find out, one way or another.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. “You want to talk? Talk.”
“Not here.” He rubbed his temple. It was throbbing like a bitch, but not the way it did before an episode. It was because he knew he had one shot at making her forgive him, and if he fucked it up…it was over. Actually over. “Can we go back to my place?”
“Oh. Right. Your head.” She stared at the spot he’d rubbed. “Are you—?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m fine.”
Standing, he held his hand down for her. She hesitated, but then slid her fingers into his. He pulled her to her feet, but didn’t release her.
He never wanted to let go again.
And I won’t.
“Let’s go.” She bit her lip. “Once you take your pill, you’ve got five minutes, and then…I go home. That’s all I’m willing to give right now.”