[Wesley's POV]

I was surrounded by three chattering women but I couldn't concentrate on a thing they were saying, because River had just walked into the ballroom.

I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was in a spaghetti strap red mermaid gown, with a neckline that plunged to the bottom of her breast bone. The dress showed off her breast mounds, just enough to tease onlookers. River had a body that had to be engineered by God himself. The dress followed her hourglass frame and shifted ever so slightly across her hips and thighs every time she took a step. She was taller than the average woman so she stood out, I knew for a fact I wasn't the only one gawking. It comforted me that I had been the only one allowed to touch. Just looking at her I was thinking of a million ways to get her out of that dress.

It was like the crowd around us had dimmed into greyscale lighting and she shone amongst them in bright red.

She held Gemma in her hands and stopped to allow townsfolk to fuss over how big the little girl had gotten. Gemma loved being the center of attention and basked in it whenever people fussed over her. River was like her assistant. Did River want kids? She had never mentioned it before, or rather they had never spoken about it. Did I want kids?

Then River walked over to Silas' mother to hand Gemma over. The minute her hands were free some guy in an ill-fitted suit walked up to her.

I don't know what he said but she threw her head back and laughed. I took a deep breath, as jealously rolled over me. He took her hand and kissed it and then she said something and walked away. River always chose to see the best in people, she probably thought men were being polite when really they were flirting with her.

Her eyes locked with mine and I could swear she blushed. It made my chest swell knowing I had that effect on her. She then took a turn and headed to where Lucy was handing out pamphlets. Her back was now turned to me, and fuck what a view it was.

Her curly hair was pulled to the top of her head, giving everyone a full view of her back and shapely ass. I watched patiently until Lucy excused herself and walked away leaving River alone.

"Excuse me ladies," I said pushing through the barricade of women in front of me. As I approached her I had to stop myself from running a finger up the dent in her spine.

I put one hand on her hip, partially blocking the view of her backside to anyone watching, and whispered in her ear.

"Hi." 

She didn't jump. It was so easy to sneak up and frighten River but with me, she didn't. Not anymore. It's like her body knew I was approaching. My heart raced at the thought of her feeling unconsciously safe around me.

"Hi." She whispered back, her eyes nervously fluttered around the room as a smile spread across her face. She always thought someone was watching us.

"How long do we have to be here?" My thumb was drawing lazy circles on her hip. She brushed my hand away and turned to me.

"Behave. Half the town is here." She warned me but I could see didn't want to behave. Even in heels she still had to look up at me with those big brown eyes. Brown eyes were just brown eyes until you fell in love with a pair.

Yeah, fuck it I was in love. With her. Her brown eyes. The shy smile she was giving me right now.

"I don't give a shit." I didn't, I was keeping this on the low for her. If it were up to me everyone here would know I was fucking her on the regular. Maybe then half these men would stop looking at her like some prize. She was with me.

She bit her lip and watched her hand come up my chest. I could tell she was contemplating throwing all caution to the wind. Her hand travelled to the back of my neck and she used her nails the lightly scratch the area, pulling me closer to her. I heard myself moan.

"Keep doing that and we're both going down for public indecency." Her giggle was music to my ears. Looking down at her I could see my reflection in her eyes, I liked the way she saw me.

River and I were stuck in this no man's land, where we waited for the other to make the first move. I know I was in love with her and I hope she was too but we were in a place where any sudden movements would disrupt what we had.

"Wes, I need to talk to you about something-" 

Her eyes caught sight of something and out of nowhere her demeanor changed. She dropped her hands, stepped back and smiled at someone over my shoulder.

"Hey, Silas!" I turned around and stepped to the side to give her a full view of the approaching man. Silas' eyes darted between us but immediately softened when River took a step towards him with open arms.

"Hey!" He folded my River into his arms and shot an accusatory glance my way.

He knew. I thought this would bother but it didn't, in fact I felt relieved. Silas didn't like the idea of relationships between co-workers because 'it got messy.' He especially did not like the idea of me dating River because we grew up together, and he was familiar with my m.o.

I'm not proud of how I've handled relationships before, but I knew things were different with River. I'd be different.

He greeted me, clapping my shoulder like he usually did. "Thanks for coming Wes."

"Anything for the practice." He nodded and then looked at River. "Look. At. You!"

"Oh stop it." She grinned and did a little twirl for him.

"Thank you for bringing Gemma-"

"Anything for you." She cut him off, waving away the gratitude he wanted to pour out.

"I gotta go check on the food," Silas stabbed his thumb over his shoulder to the festivities behind him. "I won't be far."

He said that last part looking at me. It was a warning.

The rest of the night was spent eating drinking and conversing. At our table, I was seated right next to River and it was fucking torture. I wanted to place kisses along her exposed neck, rest my arm on the back of her chair, run my fingers along her arm, anything. My hands were itching to touch her.

As if she could sense my restlessness she placed her hand on my thigh, underneath the table cloth and kept it there for the rest of the night as she conversed with everyone.

Some random guy was seated across from River and he couldn't stop staring. He was filling in for Kevin, for some reason Kevin couldn't attend tonight so this guy took his place. Didn't anyone ever teach him that staring was rude? Another reason why I hated this sworn secrecy shit was that this idiot thought River was still up for grabs.

"So Riv, you ready to leave your mom's yet?" All I know was that he worked with Kevin, they were both in real estate. I couldn't tell if he was just making conversation with her or trying to make a sale.

Riv?

"You know she'd never let me leave unless I was married."

"Maybe we should do something about that." Everyone laughed but my drink went sour in my mouth. There was something insanely irritating about men flirting with River in front of me. She rubbed my thigh.

"You're getting creative with the sale tactics." She replied and a comfortable silence settled over us. She kept glancing at me, politely asking if I was ok. Truth was I wasn't, I was bored out of my mind and would much rather take her home to spent a not so quiet night in.

"So, Dr Sykes," Lucy's husband leaned forward. "You caused quite a stir when you arrived. Especially amongst the ladies."

I shrugged. "Have no idea why." 

Everyone laughed.

"Stop being modest." Lucy joked. "I heard you quiet the um, player back in your day."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," I couldn't stop myself from smirking. "I was just seeing what my options were."

River playfully rolled her eyes.

"Are you seeing someone right now?" This came from Silas. The tension between us was thick. Sure, he's mad. I get it but this was none of his business.

"Something like that."

I swished the wine in my cup before taking a swig. River squeezed my thigh, I knew she wouldn't like that answer but I was getting bored of keeping up this charade. Before anyone could ask me any more questions I excused myself, pretending to take a call. River didn't even look at me as I got up.

When I got out of the stuffy hall and into the foyer, I loosened my tie. Fuck, this was going to be a long night. I heard the door swing open behind me and assumed it was River, I swung around.

"Babe I-"

It wasn't River. It was Silas and he looked mad. His brows were knitted together and he was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Are you and River sleeping together?"

There was no point in denying it.

"I gave you one condition Wesley! One! My nurses were off limits!" Yeah, that was before I knew one of those nurses was River Coleman.

"And when I agreed to that I fully intended to respect that-"

"And what happens when this goes belly up Wesley?!"

"How do you know that it will?" I fired back.

"Because it will! This is you we're talking about! River is like family to me and I don't want to see her get hurt!"

"Neither do I."

"Yeah? Does she know you're only here temporarily?"

No. These past couple of weeks have been complete bliss. I couldn't bring myself to shatter it. Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was disrespect Silas, but I couldn't ignore the pull between River and me. He got his answer in my silence.

"You're un-fucking-believable!" He looked like he was going to spit on my shoe. He stabbed his finger into my chest with each word uttered. "If you have any respect for me or my practice. You'll end this."

"It's not that simple Silas-"

"End it!"