“We’re not done yet.”
My fingers brush against her as I undo the necklace clasp. The pulse on the side of her neck flutters under the delicate skin. I lay Lucie’s diamonds on the cushion next to her and pick up a diamond and ruby necklace that looks like a veil made with bursting stars. I wrap it around her throat. She looks at her reflection, then meets my eyes in the mirror. Holding them, I kiss the little bumps of bone on the back of her neck. Desire pours through me at the heated honey taste of her, and I can’t help breathing a little harder. I nip the tender skin with the edge of my teeth. The air fans over her neck, sending a shiver through her entire body. She shifts her legs.
She feels something for me, even if it’s something as simple and basic as lust.
I want to thread my fingers into her hair and kiss her hard. I wish we didn’t have to go to the damn auction, but I said I’d take her, and I don’t want to break a promise to her, no matter how small. Nothing she expects from me is inconsequential.
“You’re perfect.” I press a last kiss on her neck before tossing the diamonds into the jewelry boxes and offering her my arm. She lays her hand there. It feels right to have it in the crook of my elbow, to have her walk out with me like she belongs by my side.
I plan to keep her there.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nicholas
The Aylster Hotel’s Grand Ballroom is a great venue for a charity auction. The Pryce Family Foundation’s head, Elizabeth Pryce-King, champions all types of worthy causes, and the woman has an incredible talent for squeezing funds from the wealthy with the right words and a smile.
The theme of tonight’s event is Better Local. Elizabeth has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build schools in Lebanon and Egypt, to bring critical care to parts of the world without sufficient medical infrastructure. But now she’s focusing on improving Los Angeles. Tonight’s bachelorette auction will be unique. Instead of one or two causes that the foundation chose, the bachelorettes can direct the proceeds from their winning bids to a charity of their choice. The new system has created more enthusiasm and excitement from the participants.
Thankfully, Molly won’t be part of the auction. I checked. Furry Haven already has a bachelorette—Dana Mincer.
I just want to give Molly a chance to dress fancy, sip expensive champagne and have fun. She highlighted passages from some of her books about lavish social functions, so she must be particularly interested in them.
She highlighted a lot of sex scenes, too. I’ve committed those to memory as well. If she’s interested, so am I.
The moment Molly and I enter the ballroom, many sets of male eyes swing toward her. They openly trace her curves.
One by one, I catch their eyes and hold contact until they look away. It generally doesn’t take long. I have a reputation for being steady and even-tempered. But that makes my confrontational body language that much scarier.
“Do you know these people?” Molly whispers. “Should we go say hello?”
“I do, but we’re going to ignore them.”
A beat. “You aren’t going to introduce me?”
“Why would I do that?” An introduction would result in their checking her out at close range, and I might end up poking their lecherous eyeballs right back into their brains.
A shadow fleets across her face. She drops her eyes, then looks around distractedly. “Right. We’re not, like…really dating. It’d be kinda awkward.”
Shit.She took it the wrong way. “That’s not the reason. Those men are wolves in tuxedos. Cavemen with clubs. Except that cavemen are honest. They just grunt and beat each other up. But these guys fake it all the time. They aren’t good for you.”
She finally looks at me again, and the eye contact loosens the knot in my belly. “Aren’t they your friends?”
“Not when they’re looking at you like they’d like to screw you right here on the hotel floor.”
She gasps and slaps my arm. “They arenot!”
I shake my head. “If only you could read men’s minds…”
“The only one I want to read is yours.”
“Me? I’m an open book.”
She laughs. But before I can enjoy her good humor, a large guy in a tux opens his arms to hug her. “Oh, hey! I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
I narrow my eyes. He seems familiar.
She gazes up at him in amazement. “Arturo?”
