His eyes spear me from twenty feet in the air. “It’s not very nice of you to say things like that when I’m not in a position to do anything about it.”
“Thank goodness I’m not a very nice person then.” I tug on the silks to emphasize my point, jostling him a bit.
“Stop doing that.” His voice is stern. It’s what I imagine he sounds like when he’s leading the team. It’s kind of hot,so I do it again. “Jade, if you don’t stop, when I get down, there will be hell to pay.”
“Sounds fun. Are you going to punish me, Captain?”
“Fuck,stop. You’re making me hard when I’m hovering above a group of people. They’ll think I’m a pervert.” He makes a concerted effort to untangle himself, kicking his feet until he’s able to get one free and use it as leverage to start untwisting himself.
Once released from the bonds of luxury, Tieran scales down the silk and drops heavily onto the mat next to me. When he rises to his full height, effectively towering over me, he subtly adjusts the slight bulge in his pants.
Unable to help myself, I snort a laugh.
“Do you think this is funny?” He arches a brow.
“Unfortunately for you, yes. It’s hilarious.”
“Wicked woman.” The words have no bite to them, but he prowls closer to me, a wolf on the hunt, me it’s willing prey. My blood hums through my body, waiting to see what punishment he might dole out.
I back up a step, ducking behind the fabric cascading from the ceiling. Tieran goes to grab the material to pull it out of his way and get to me, but I stop him. “Careful; I’d hate for you to get tangled again. Metamorphosis might set in this time, and you might transform into a big, masculine, rugby-playing butterfly.”
He barks out a laugh so loud, it shocks the whole room into silence.
“Would you two please pay attention so we can demonstrate the new skill for everyone?” Stasia, who clearly doesn’t care who I am and I love her for it, chides us.
“Sorry!” Tieran and I both say before we turn, smiling at one another.
The next hour passes in a flash of satin and laughter as Billie and Stasia take us through several introductory moves. It’s easy to admit I had fun, but from the look in Stasia’s eyes as we walk out the door, I don’t think we’re welcome back anytime soon.
We’re standing on the street, watching a car pass by, neither of us saying anything. Where do we go from here? I don’t really want this day to end, if I’m being honest with myself. If I was being really honest with myself, I’d admit I never want time spent with Tieran to end.
I built an empire by being smart—making logical choices, safe choices. But lately, I’ve been very, very stupid.
Fuck. I’m tired of playing it safe. Isn’t that why I moved to London and bought the team in the first place? To do the bold thing—the risky thing. Am I really going to risk that on a man who makes my heart freefall in my chest every time he looks at me with those sapphire eyes? With every smile, text, random not-date, and cheeky remark, my good sense drifts away on the wind, leaving behind a sense of frenetic energy—a need my body recognizes but my head has yet to allow.
The Legends are a challenge my head wants, but Tieran is a challenge myheartneeds.
And I’ve never backed down from a challenge.
“Do you want to get lunch?” The words are out of my mouth before I realize I’ve said them.
The smile Tieran throws me is soft, almost shy. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“You’ve really never been here?”I watch Jade as she takes in the enormity of Broadway Market, eyes bouncing around stall after stall. Aromas from every cuisine you can think of waft through the air around us, making my mouth water almost as much as Jade does in her tight workout clothes. We walked the length of Regent’s Canal, talking the whole way, occasionally stopping to admire a houseboat bookstore or a particularly beautiful willow tree, until we wound up here.
“No, never.” Her answer is punctuated with a loud rumble from her stomach.
“That’s mad. In all the times you’ve visited for work or to see your dad, I can’t believe you never came here.” The market is popular amongst the locals, favoring this over the more touristy markets throughout the city. It’s not the most convenient to get to, but it’s worth the trip for the bao buns alone.
“Usually, when I come for work, I’m stuck going to Michelin-starred dinners with business associates, and when I visit Dad, we’re usually getting takeaway from his favorite chip shop.”
I whistle. “Michelin-starred restaurants. That must have been a hardship.”
She smiles softly to herself before facingme. “Would it surprise you if I said I’d much rather be somewhere like this.” She nods to the market.
“A bit, yeah.”
She looks a little sad, and it makes me want to push and pry to get her to tell me everything about herself she hasn’t yet. I want her to show me how her brilliant mind works, tell me what shedoeslove, find out what she wants out of life, becauseIwant to give it to her.
