“Tired of the noise?”
She turns quickly. “Kamal, do you need me?”
“Define ‘need’.”
She makes an angry expression. “You’re flirting. You said you wouldn’t play with me.”
“I don’t flirt, Madeline. I go after what I want.”
I see her throat move as she swallows hard. “And what you want is me?”
“You know it is.”
“We can’t.”
“Wrong. We shouldn’t. It’s different.”
“In the end, it’s the same.” Her eyes shine in the dark like two jewels.
In the distance, we hear the band starting to play, and I extend my hand to my employee. “Dance with me, Madeline.”
She hesitates for a moment before giving in, and I pull her against me, denying her the chance to change her mind.
The heat spreads quickly from one to the other, like a flame fueled by the friction of our bodies.
I inhale her scent. The woman is addictive. Voice, beauty, fragrance.
“I’m sorry for leaving, but I felt suffocated,” she says as she moves with me to the rhythm of the song.
“Why?”
“I don’t want to be rude, but there’s a point when these types of events wear me out. I’ve been attending them since I was little.”
“You did very well in there.”
“Really?” she asks, smiling.
“Yes.”
“Although, as I suspected, we gave the wrong impression. Some people asked me if we were together.”
I tighten my grip on her lower back, pressing her against me in a way that makes my desire clear. “Did that bother you?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“Are you currently dating someone? Any woman who signed your contract that I should be aware of?”
“No. I only date one woman at a time, Madeline.”
“In that case, I couldn’t care less about what others think. I don’t owe anyone an explanation.”
I step back a bit to look at her. “Do you truly believe that, or do you want to believe it?”
“I’m not sure how to answer. I was raised to be perfect, not to think for myself and never to listen to my desires, because people’s opinions of me were more important than what I wanted.”
“And now?”
