“The dress…”
He gives a ghost of a smile as his fingers brush my low neckline, branding my skin. “You said you weren’t the type of girl who could inspire a song like that. I wanted to show you that you’re wrong, my lady in red.”
Leave it to him to make me topple even further into love. So far down, there’s no hope of escape. It’s going to take a lifetime to get over him.
* * *
The restof the Christmas ball is both fun and acute torture. I danced a few more songs with Ronan, wrapped in his arms, only forfeiting the floor when the slow songs end. I’m desperately aware that when we leave here, we will head home. Together. Alone. To a house where we will have no interruptions.
I want it badly. But worries crowd my mind. Most of them are silly insecurities. Will I be enough for a man who has had his share of models and starlets? Will all this fade on his part once we’ve had sex? I know it won’t on mine, but he’s a million times more experienced than me.
Once we leave the inn tonight, everything changes irrevocably.
So I keep finding things to do while Ronan stays at my side, until Sadie tries to chase us out.
By then, Emma had already dragged Sebastian out of the place, pulling him away from his groupies, who consisted of my mom and her Zumba ladies. He was an equal opportunity flirt, not discriminating by age, which endeared him to me more than I expected, even with his bad-boy reputation.
I did notice that Emma kept a strict eye on Sebastian’s drinks and kept plying him with club soda in between the bourbon he got from the cash bar. A local winery supplied wine for the evening, but he preferred something harder.
I’m not sure when Chase left. He snuck out not long after he got there, after he bid on a number of items. Before he left, though, Chase talked to me more about the kids center. It was clear that he’s no stranger to charities—and, specifically, charities like ours for disadvantaged youth. He took my email and said he’d follow up.
Chase James might be emailing me, and I’m not even giddy about it, except that it might help the center.
That’s how hung up on Ronan I am. He’s the only one who makes my stomach tie up in knots with just a look.
“Seriously, leave now,” Sadie insists again. “We got this.”
“But there’s so much left to do.”
“You two are driving me crazy. Nobody wants to see you make adoring eyes at each other all night. I’m too emotional that Lonely Book Boy didn’t make it. You need to leave right now, because if I were on a date with a superstar, I can tell you for damn sure that I wouldn’t be hanging out here. I would be doing far better things with my time and body, if you catch my drift.”
“But we’re not—It’s not—”
“Just. Leave,” Sadie repeats, putting her hands on her ample hips that are rocking in her gold dress.
I hold up my hand. “Okay, okay. We’re skedaddling.”
Ronan rubs his hand over his chin. “You did not just say skedaddle.”
“Of course I did. It’s a good word.”
He barks out a laugh but disguises it as a cough.
My smile widens. “It’s a great word. It made you laugh,” I say.
“Bye. Have a fun night, you two,” Sadie says, waggling her fingers at us.
I blow her a kiss, and Ronan puts a hand on the small of my back as we make our way into the chilly night.
“Oh,” I say as we step out into the cold. I wrap my white cape tighter around me. “It’s snowing.”
Tiny snowflakes drift down on us. I lift my head, feeling the soft wetness on my face. I laugh in bliss, smiling up at Ronan.
He watches me, his eyebrows drawn.
“What are you thinking?” I ask when he continues to stare at me.
He gives me a slow, sexy smile, one that makes desire pool in my center and heat bloom, even in the snow.
