Jacob stepped into the room dressed in black slacks and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. No jacket. No tie. No attempt to hide the thick scars that crawled up the side of his neck and disappeared into his jawline. His dark hair was slicked back from his face, just like the other Bens, leaving every jagged line of damage on his face visible until they disappeared behind his domino mask.
He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not like this.
Last night, when my original partner had been eliminated and Henry announced that if I didn’t have a partner, I would be eliminated, Jacob had stepped forward without hesitation, his blue eyes locked steady on mine. I’d thought it was a kindness, a way to give me a chance and keep me in the Game.
Seeing him now, standing among the other glossy, perfect potential Bens, one of whom had done unspeakable things to me last night while I was blindfolded, my heart understood it as something else.
It was a threat, a temptation, and a test… one I was terrified I wasn’t going to pass.
Chapter
Seventeen
CHRISSY
His gaze foundme across the room like maybe he felt the same magnetic pull between us I’d felt at dinner last night. Heat shot through my chest, embarrassing in its intensity. I swallowed and looked away fast, focusing on the velvet box in my hands like it held answers.
“Gentlemen,” Henry said, “please step forward and collect the ring your lady has chosen.”
The men moved, each one approaching the woman they’d been paired with. Jacob’s footsteps on the hardwood sounded louder in my ears than anyone else’s.
When I looked up again, he was there, right in front of me.
Up close, the scars were even more stark, twisting one side of his face into something the world might call monstrous. His eyes ruined that effect. They were blue and soft and dark and painfully aware.
“May I?” he asked, nodding toward the box in my hands.
My fingers didn’t want to let it go, but I handed it over anyway.
His thumb brushed mine as he took it and electricity shot up my arm.
Jacob opened the box with careful fingers. When he saw the ring inside, something flickered across his face, perhaps a flash of startled recognition, which he quickly smoothed away.
I couldn’t help the question that tumbled out of me.
“Do you… not like it?” I whispered.
His gaze snapped back to mine, and for a heartbeat, the whole world narrowed to the space between us and nothing else.
“I like it,” he said quietly. “More than you know.”
My pulse stumbled.
Henry’s voice boomed again.
“When I call your number, you and your partner will step into the center and proceed with the proposal. Remember, ladies… your answer matters.”
He started reading off numbers. Ten went first, of course. She strutted to the center of the rug on stilettos that could pierce armor, her partner dropping to one knee with a practiced grin. His speech sounded like it had been written by a PR team.
Half the room swooned.
The second he stopped speaking, I couldn’t remember a word of what he’d said because all I could think about was the ring in Jacob’s hand and the way my stomach churned at the idea of him kneeling in front of me.
“Eighteen.”
My number echoed through the sitting room like a verdict.
I froze.
