“You wore it,” he said finally, his voice lower than I’d expected.
“You told me to.” My attempt at sounding light and breezy failed miserably. My voice was so much breathier than it should’ve been.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d wear it for me.” His gaze skimmed the gown for another second before it snapped back to my face and that grin finally appeared. “You’re… wow. I’m not even going to lie here. I’m slightly stunned.”
The heat rising from my neck to my cheeks was definitely because of the lobby heaters.Definitely. Absolutely. No doubt about it.
“Thanks. You clean up pretty okay yourself.”
“Thanks, that’s what I was going for. Pretty okay.” The wicked tilt of his lips reminded me that he was not, in fact, some kind of gallant prince like he pretended to be when he stepped forward and offered me his arm. “Shall we?”
“We might as well. We’re already all dressed up.” I slipped my hand into the crook of his elbow, letting him lead me out the revolving doors.
A sleek black car idled at the curb, a driver waiting at the back door. I rolled my eyes at Harrison. “You hired a car for this?”
“Of course, I did.” He guided me to it, his palm pressing gently at the small of my back as the driver opened the door. “What did you expect, a moped?”
I chuckled. “That would’ve been pretty tricky with this dress.”
“Interesting, though,” he said quietly, like he was speaking more to himself.
He followed me into the car. The city lights blurred outside the window as the driver pulled away from the curb. We weaved into the Manhattan traffic, but Harrison had settled across from me and his eyes never left mine.
Nerves fluttered through me again, but at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. Whatever he had planned for tonight, I had a feeling he was going to sweep me clean off my feet.
And I didn’t know if I would even try to stop him.
CHAPTER 15
HARRISON
First and foremost, Aurelia was becoming my friend. I did my best to remember that as I sat across from her at a ludicrously priced restaurant. It was the kind of place Callum would hate and Sterling would try to buy shares in.
In other words, it was me, and it definitely suited the occasion.
As I looked at her in the low, flickering candlelight of our private room, however, the thought of what I was about to do clashed with that idea of friendship in my head. I was painfully attracted to this girl and the ring in my pocket was practically burning a hole in my pants, but she was a friend. Sort of. Not a girlfriend or a longtime crush. I’d never touched her and I probably never should.
This was supposed to be about business. About proving something to our families. About doing what I needed to do with a friend, a person I was growing to trust, not a romantic entanglement.
So I listened patiently as she told me about the Van Alen holiday traditions. I tried to ignore the way my cock twitched whenever she leaned forward a little and flashed a hint ofcleavage. Most of all, I tried to keep reminding myself that even if she was breathtaking, what we had was entirely platonic.
“It could be awkward this year because I resigned, but I’m still looking forward to it,” she was saying when I finally managed to stop being distracted by my thoughts. “My brothers always get each other these gag gifts, and over the years, it’s become a competition about who can buy the others the most obscene thing. You should see some of the stuff they’ve gotten each other. I have no idea where they even find it.”
My eyebrows drew a little closer together. “You’re not part of this tradition?”
She briefly averted her gaze, shrugging before she looked at me again. “No, not really. They claim not to want to offend my delicate sensibilities.”
“I’d like to offend your sensibilities,” I teased, but I was also being perfectly honest. If she had any idea of all the things I’d thought of doing to her, with her, she’d know that her sensibilities wouldn’t be delicate for very long if we ever hooked up. “Do you think I could get in on the action this year? You and I could do gag gifts, too.”
“You don’t have t?—”
“I want to,” I said immediately, cutting her off. “Aurelia Van Alen, will you please allow me the honor of offending the shit out of your sensibilities?”
She smothered her laughter with one hand in front of her mouth, then nodded enthusiastically. “I’d love that, but only if you’d allow me the honor in return.”
“Done. May the most obscene gift win.” I pumped my eyebrows and groaned out loud when I realized what I’d just done. “Uh, for the record, you do know that I only have brothers, right?”
“So do I.”
