“Is that so? Are you trying to convince me there’s actually something going on between you and that…clown? Please.” He snorted. “How did you conjure him on such short notice? Even paid escorts need to be booked in advance. I’m guessing Tinder?”
That lying, conniving asshole.Live up to your shit for once, you prick.“I don’t need an app to get a date. Guys seem to be lining up outside my office, throwing themselves at me. The pretentious widow that’s crying for attention act must have its charm. You know that since you’re one of those guys, right?”
He opened his mouth to counter my attack, but I jumped to my feet, not giving him a chance. “After the lecture you gave me this morning, and since your arm is missing one of the candy bimbos you regularly bring to our events, maybeyoushould’ve used Tinder to score a date for the night.”
I grabbed my purse and spun to leave the goddamn table. When I turned, I bumped into Fabio. I gasped, my heart banging my chest.
“What’s going on? You look so pale.” Fabio switched his stare toward Fletcher. “Did something happen when I was gone?”
Other than I was hiding a bug between my fingers, and Fletcher almost caught me with it before he behaved as the dick he’d always been, and now there was a big chance I was busted by Fabio himself before I placed the stupid thing on him? “Nothing! Just Fletcher being Fletcher.”
“Are you sure?” Fabio put the water bottle on the table and touched my arm. “You’re cold.”
He rubbed my arm gently, and his hand slithered toward mine. My whole body stiffened. He was going to find the bug. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
Think, Gabi. Think. But my mind froze just like everything. Petrified, I stared at his fingers that were reaching for mine. Then, without thinking, I grabbed the lapels of his tux, stretched on my toes and pressed my lips against his.
CHAPTER12
Fabio
She was pale and shaking and cold.What the fuck did he do to her now? I’m gonna kill that bastar—
My train of thought screeched to a halt. Crashed with a kiss I thought I’d never have. My feet turned into lead as my head spun. Was this real? Did lady Brighton, on her tippy toes, grab me by the lapels so that she’d kiss me?
Were her lips, trembling and soft and oddly scorching in comparison to her skin, touching mine?
I’d never thought, after the hundreds—if not thousands—of women I’d been with, there was one out there that would make me burn and intoxicated over a kiss. I’d never thoughtherlips would fit that perfectly against mine.
But it wasn’t the time to think. It was the time to relish that impulsive moment she was having, one I didn’t know was possible or would make a reoccurrence.
I kissed her back, savored her lips as if they were an amuse-bouche specially made for my taste. My eyes closed. My hand plunged in the silky depth of the back of her hair. My pulse skittered and pounded in my ears, in my cock, as my tongue slowly licked her upper lip, and then I bit the lower. She gasped, her hands leaving my tux jacket and pressing my chest.
She pulled away too soon, our masks clashing in the way, our eyes asking the questions. What was this? How did we get fromnot gonna happentoit’s so happening? Why did it feel so different, so hot? How the fuck could this tense, edgy, frowny, judgey lady taste like fire? I felt as if I was kissed by a thousand suns and God if that didn’t feel so fucking good. So fucking right.
Why did I like it so much? Why was I dying to know if she liked it as much? Why did I have this stupid urge to do that again and again and again as many times as she’d let me?
I took a dive in her eyes, trying to read the new quivering glimmer now in them. It was beautiful, as beautiful as her eyes themselves, but frightened and alarming.
Suddenly, she tore her gaze away from mine. Her breath raced when she saw that bastard was watching with malice filling his stare.
Who cared if he saw? Who cared if anybody saw?Just come back to me.
I reached for her face to bring her back, but she stepped away. Her lashes dropped, casting a shadow over the edge of the mask. “I…I’m going to the ladies’ room.”
CHAPTER13
Gabrielle
Pinned in place. Struck by lightning. Lightheaded with fever. Turned into molten lava. Yes, I felt all the cheesy clichés, and every cell in me was freaking out.
Ears burning, heart thrashing, I tried to hold his piercing, stunned, fucking sparkling gaze until my brain functioned again so I could say something to justify what I’d just done.
What the fuck had I just done?
But the connection was unbearable, and I had to look away for some relief. Then, to add to my shame, I realized Fletcher was watching. Everybody was. “I…I’m going to the ladies’ room.”
Fabio’s eyes trained after me, screaming,No, stay with me. Don’t run.
