Dom stiffened, but the young man seemed oblivious. He watched Tess for any sign of acceptance.
“Thank you, George. I’d like that.”
Dom bristled, but George, whoever the hell he was, looked over the moon.
“I’ll see you there,” she told him, her tone more polite than eager.
“You will. Until then.” The man didn’t seem quite sure what to do as a leave-taking. He raised a hand as if he might reach for her, but Dom instinctively took a single step forward, which stalled the man with his hand in midair.
Then he sketched an awkward half bow, cast a beaming grin at Tess, and scurried off.
“I suppose we should head toward the bonfire,” she said once her suitor disappeared from view.
Dom was only willing to go if he could throw George what’s-his-name into said bonfire.
She started walking and then turned back to Dom. He couldn’t help it. He was stuck there, scowling after the man who’d wheedled a dance out of Tess.
“You’re glowering quite fiercely, Dominic.”
He sighed, lifting his brows. “Forgive me. I didn’t expect to be so unnerved by another asking you to dance. Though I understand the man’s enthusiasm.”
She pressed her lips together and strode back toward him. So close, he wanted to reach for her, hold her.
“I should have asked you to dance,” he said with a rueful smile.
“You still can.”
“Dance with me.”And not bloody George.
Tess stunned him by taking another step closer. Scandalously close. Her bosom brushed his chest. The skirt of the dress she’d changed into pressed against his legs. It still wasn’t close enough.
“I have to dance with George first,” she said quietly.
“Lucky George.”
A chuckle bubbled out of her. “I was being polite.” She nibbled at her lower lip a moment. “And you hadn’t asked me, so I didn’t have a good excuse.”
“Then I’m a fool.” Dom dipped his head, a hairsbreadth from kissing her. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
She drew in a breath, flicked her gaze down to his lips. “So you’ll claim me for the rest of the night?”
Dom’s own breath snagged in his chest. Blood thrummed in his ears. With that one seductive question, she’d made his cock hard and his mind go blank.
“For dancing,” she clarified with an alluring smile, as if she understood just how much she’d stunned him.
That allowed a bit of the blood to return to his brain. But he was still shocked. Delightfully so. Was Tess Hawthorne... seducing him?
The prospect made his mouth water.
“I’d claim you every night of the week if I had my way,” he told her quietly, aware that their nearness was beginning to attract notice.
Not that he gave a damn about anything but whatever was happening between them.
“Dancing every night of the week?” she teased.
“Mmm.” Dom bent down a bit further to whisper in her ear. “I’d devote myself to you for any purpose you pleased.”
This close, he felt the tremor that rocked through her at his words. But it also seemed to break the extraordinary moment between them.
