“So you’ll be watching me tonight?”
“Tonight, tomorrow, always… Is that okay?”
“Do you care?”
“Not really.”
“Asshole.”
He chuckles, finally letting me go as I step back and grab my heels. Before I can slip them on, he’s already kneeling, taking them from my hands. He sets them on the floor and waits until I slide my feet in, then straps them on carefully.
“Let’s go, pretty girl.”
“Well, this is a bit fucking fancy, isn’t it?” Lianna says, craning her neck to look up at the chandeliers.
“We’ve done fancy shit before.”
“Yeah, but this is extra. And you know what? You’re rich, but this is like dirty rich.”
This is the powerful kind of rich you can practically smell. Security is dotted everywhere. Earpieces, square jaws, no fucking eyelids, apparently—considering I haven’t seen one of them blink—and tailored suits that don’t hide the bulk of weapons underneath. They’re trying to blend in and pass as guests, but I have no idea why they’re even bothering when they look like they’d choke out someone’s grandma if she so much as coughed too loudly.
I’d almost resigned myself to the fact that Phoenix wasn’t getting anywhere near this place—trash security cameras or not, this is another level. But I can feel him. I don’t know how I know, but he’s here. My eyes drift, tuning out everything that isn’t this pull in my gut.
My head turns just slightly, and there he is, the man of my dreams, leaning against the bar like he owns the entire building.
Something in me settles instantly, and whatever I thought I was bracing for tonight disappears the second those eyes find mine.
I don’t need words from him when everything in his face says,I love you, andI’ve got you.
We decided he’d stay hidden from me tonight—technically hidden, anyway. He’s not supposed to be here, and the last thing Iwant is for him to draw attention to himself, which is hilarious, because the man is attention. He walks into a room, and everyone suddenly forgets what the hell they were doing because he’s stupid hot, and the smug bastard knows it.
But only I get to keep him.
Only I know what it feels like to be chosen by that heart.
“Let’s get a drink,” I say, grabbing Lianna’s hand without looking away from him.
“Ugh, there he is, the bane of my life, looking annoyingly hot in that suit.”
“Please, you like him too much to find him an inconvenience.”
“Don’t tell him that,” she hisses.
I slot in beside Phoenix at the bar. We don’t touch or acknowledge each other, but I feel the heat of his body, and Jesus, it’s turning me into a puddle in heels.
Phoenix doesn’t move, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
The bartender appears and takes Lianna’s and my order—two champagnes, even though the room’s already infested with silver trays carrying the same shit. But I saw something I wanted here, and I needed to be close to it.
“Come on,” Lianna says under her breath, nudging me with her elbow. “You came here for a reason. Smile. Mingle. Pretend to give a shit. Then we can fuck off, because Phoenix is about three seconds from hauling your ass out of here by the hair.”
I turn to face her, putting my back to him like I’m not hyperaware of every single breath he takes.
“Phoenix isn’t deaf,” comes his voice, but I still don’t turn. “Now go before I drag both of you out of here because I don’t trust a single one of these power-hungry cocksuckers not to be seedy, deranged fucks with wandering hands.”
“You found the guest list, didn’t you?” Lianna says it loud enough for him to hear.
I hear the faintest chuckle behind me, then track Lianna’s eyes as she follows him across the room.
