Their horrible attitudes were the very reason I’d left the celebration almost as soon as it was over. I didn’t need to hear or experience any more of their grief. I was sorry that they’d been told no one else would be hired for the upcoming season. I was sorry that they felt lied to, pressured even.
But I wasn’t to blame, for fuck’s sake.
Yet here I was inside a humid elevator with the sexiest man alive and all I could think about was how I was a reject.
Unwanted.
Unneeded.
Lonely and tossed aside.
All the things I’d felt growing up as a child, forced to face once again in New York. Now this. The only good news was that they didn’t have a clue who I was other than the chick who arrived from New York.
Whatever.
I had a slightly new routine to practice, eternally grateful that the ballet was so similar to the one I’d recently performed in New York. Maybe if I set a shining example, they’d leave me the fuck alone.
With several deep breaths, I managed to calm my nerves. They’d even made fun of my costume. Who did that? I thought I looked sexy and alluring as Aphrodite.
And the handsome man was daring to crowd my space. I moved further to the side, crushed into the corner.
“I promise you I’m not in the habit of biting.” His voice was sinfully husky, velvety in a way that enlisted several inappropriate images.
“I’m not worried about you biting.”
“Then what are you worried about?” He had a slight accent that I couldn’t place, which was rare for me. In New York, there weredozens of different dialects and as a little game I used to play to ease the loneliness, I’d make guesses on where the person came from. I’d gotten very good at the game.
But with him, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I’d learned years before how to block my Italian accent and after living in New York studying dialects, I could also emulate almost any accent. I’d used that to my benefit on more than one occasion.
“Whether or not you’re a monster like the ones my mother warned me about.”
“I can attest to the fact I am. In fact, I’ll swear on a bible if you’d prefer.”
His answer caught me off guard. I couldn’t help myself, turning toward him. “I’m curious. Do you get a lot of women that way?”
“What way is that?”
“Being slightly dorky while wearing a tux?”
I was surprised by the effect his smile had on me. After that, I drifted into the shocked category when he turned to face me, crowding my space. While he had his hands in his pockets in a completely non-threatening way, his actions could be considered rude.
But after the day I’d experienced, being admired by a stranger was a nice boost to my bruised ego. Maybe a little flirting wasn’t the worst idea I’d had in the last week. Not by a long shot.
He inched even closer, placing one hand beside my head. His scent was intoxicating, affecting every inch of my body although I’d never admit it. While I could tell he was lowering his head, he was doing so with such precision and so slowly that when hislips were mere centimeters away from mine, I licked my own in a moment of defense.
His smile felt like a reward and while the sound of the elevator managed to drown out my rapidly beating heart, the clinking as the steel box moved from floor to floor was unable to hide the single husky growl emitted past his succulent lips.
I’d consider them beautiful lips even for a man.
“I will admit, Aphrodite, that I’ve never been called dorky. Well, perhaps with a single exception.” My mysterious stranger continued his act of dominance by taking the tip of his index finger, brushing it from one side of my jaw to the other.
The tingling sensations were way too powerful, so intense I realized seconds later I was holding my breath. I was like any other woman, a sexual creature in nature. However, after the first round of sex had left a bad taste in my mouth, I’d settled for fantasies and fiction, a hefty vibrator and a very vivid imagination.
What would it be like to have a tawdry one-night stand? To completely give in to our carnal needs? Would my priest consider it an abomination? As if I’d stepped foot inside a church since leaving Sicily.
The thought was truly delicious and I had the distinct feeling he could read my mind.
He was more than a half a foot taller than me and with me standing in tennis shoes, the sexy dress suddenly didn’t seem as seductive as I’d had in mind. He didn’t seem to mind by the way his eyes were roaming every inch of my body.
