Page 122 of Titus

“Oh, stop it, Cat,” Amelia answered. “Go have fun. Who cares if every available woman wants him the way you’re going to have him tonight?”

“Let’s get off this subject. If anything happens, call me,” I said.

“We will,” Amelia answered, “but Mickie said everything looks fine. Just to keep things light and easy right now.”

“And I’m here. We’re both adults, and we’ve got this. Go live your life while we doomscroll reels, wishing we were you,” Jessica said with a laugh.

Then a knock at the door tightened my stomach. I hadn’t been on a real date in more than five years, and I definitely hadn’t developed feelings for a man in that time either.

All of this felt unfamiliar to me, and after Titus texted me to wear an evening dress and pack a bag because we’d be watching the sunrise from his yacht… well, I knew tonight could go in a lot of different directions. I just didn’t know if I was ready for any of them.

I didn’t know if I was ready to trust Titus with this part of me, yet there I was, walking toward the door to go with him anyway.

“My God, Catalina,” Titus said, his eyes dropping to my dress and then meeting mine again. “You look positively stunning.”

I smiled, taking in the charcoal suit, open collar, and dark shirt, which somehow made the man look even more dangerous tonight. “And you look quite dashing this evening, Mr. Hawk.”

“No more formalities, preciosa,” he said, pressing the back of my hand to his lips. “I’ve missed you, and I plan to make up for lost time with you tonight.”

Everything in me tightened under a weight of pressure I’d never felt before. Good lord, this man was going to ruin me before I could help it.

“Amelia,” Titus said, looking toward where the girls sat on the sofa, eating pizza, “you look lovely and very well.”

Amelia smiled. “I’m feeling wonderful. You’ll always be my hero.”

Titus smiled. “That is quite the honor.”

“This is Jessica,” I acknowledged. “Amelia’s best friend.”

“A great pleasure to meet you,” Titus greeted.

“Okay, girls. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I smiled.

“You kids have fun,” Amelia called out as Titus took my leather overnight bag from me, and we stepped outside.

The first time I stepped onto this yacht, I was wearing an earpiece, holding three seating charts, and trying to keep a luxury charity event from collapsing into disaster. Which was exactly why I wasn’t overly dazzled by the yacht anchored just off the coast. At the time, the only thing I cared about was that someone had approved ivory orchids against black marble tables—and whoever had made that decision deserved prison time.

Unfortunately for me, that someone had apparently been Titus. Somehow, that became the first of many things he used to form his completely wild opinion of me after I was hired to work his event.

Not to mention his final opinion, which I would learn later, was that I robbed him. He had no idea how screwed up his damn event would’ve been if I hadn’t taken over after his planner bailed out at the last minute.

“You’re smiling again.”

I glanced at him as we stepped from the helicopter landing platform onto the yacht’s upper deck. Newport Harbor shimmered around us as soft deck lighting reflected across the polished teak beneath our feet.

“Just remembering my first evening here,” I chuckled. “Do you remember being pissed off about the flowers?”

“The fact that you had them removed and replaced?”

“They were terrible. They didn’t align with any part of what your event was trying to convey.”

“They were flown in from Paris.”

“And still didn’t work.”

A low laugh escaped him as he guided me forward, one hand resting against my lower back. “You walked onto my yacht,” he continued smoothly, “without permission, insulted the event design, reassigned my staff, and told the chef his presentation looked disappointing.”

“It did look disappointing.”