My eyes immediately dart to the giant red glowing eight above the inside of the door.
Bardil grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet, kissing me quickly, before slipping his arm around me and walking toward the door.
The other people are walking in just as we get to the door.
"Hi," Bardil grins.
"Hi, um, we booked this room… You can't be in here. We paid for this space and you can't just walk into someone else's booked VIP area… " One of the blonde girls snaps angrily, displeased to find us in there. Her face barely moves, frozen with Botox despite her heightened agitation. Bardil interrupts her.
"Yes, we booked the one across the way and just realized we came into the wrong room. Enjoy your night." Bardil is calm, but with an edge of warning threaded into his words. He clearly doesn't like her attitude.
The girl smiles, quickly backing away, and all of her sass disappears. "Oh, yes, just a mistake, it's no problem at all," she gushes, lifting her hand to touch his chest, but he moves back to avoid it. Her eyes flare in horror because he rejected her. I guess she's not used to that. From her overfilled lips, I'd say she's used to getting a lot of attention and probably needs it.
But clearly, the man with his arm around me isn't interested in her.
I grin, feeling special to be the one chosen by him.
Stepping around her and pushing past her friends, we leave the VIP room and head back into the upstairs area.
Bardil doesn't ask me if I want to stay, and to my relief, he leads me outside and into the fresh evening air.
"Hungry?" he asks.
I am. But maybe not only for food. I can't believe I want him again already.
"I'm definitely hungry," I nod.
"I'm thinking we stop and get some burgers?"
"Can we order from the Shake Shack? I love their fries!"
"I'll order now, and they can deliver for us," he agrees, pulling out his phone while he tugs the car door open for me. Before driving off, he places an order for two burgers with fries, a milkshake for me, and a coke for him.
I doubt I'll be able to finish it, but right now I'm beginning to think I'll eat my food and his. Apparently, he's helped me work up quite an appetite.
Bardil reaches his hand across the car and places it on my leg.
"That was close," he chuckles, his fingers brushing over my bare skin at the edge of my dress.
My body hums with need again.
"If they'd arrived a few minutes earlier, they would've gotten quite the show," I giggle, blushing at the thought.
His smile is gorgeous when he glances at me. "I rather liked the idea of almost getting caught," he muses.
I grin, thinking I wouldn't even have cared. I certainly wouldn't have wanted him to stop in the moment. I can't believe how wild that was.
Bardil pulls his hand away and places it on the steering wheel, still smiling as we drive through town toward his mansion.
This is incredible.
In one night, everything has changed.
The way he looks at me. The way he smiles. His walls are down, and he's finally letting go of his anger. What happened between us now… I've never felt that before. Never in my life. Not with anyone. I think he felt it, too. That was special. It was real. It was beautiful.
Even if he hasn't let go of his anger toward my family yet, I know this is the start of something new. A new outlook. A new perspective for him.
I glance at him across the car. His face is relaxed and happy.
