Page 91 of Vow to Claim You

“You stared at him like you were deciding where to bury the body.”

I tilt my head. “Was I?”

“Yes.” He huffs a laugh. “So. You planning to dance with your wife at some point tonight? Or just intimidate every man inside a ten-meter radius until the song ends on its own?”

I look at Ayanna, at her mouth still fighting not to smile.

“I’d rather give them something else to watch.” I hold out my hand. “Dance with me.”

Ayanna’s eyes widen as they flick between mine for a moment before she lays her hand on mine, and we walk toward the dance floor.

The man who flirted with Ayanna made one very unfortunate mistake tonight. He reminded me how much I dislike seeing another man near my wife.

The band has shifted to something slower by the time we reach the floor. Strings. A low piano. The kind of music built to make people forget killers surround them.

Lantern light pools across the marble, over the couples already turning in slow circles. Ayanna stops in front of me, one eyebrow raised.

“You’re actually going to dance?”

“Shocking, I know.” I offer my hand.

Her fingers slide into mine, and I draw her in. My hand settles at the small of her back, and I feel the breath go out of her in a single quiet stutter before she catches it. For half a second, her whole body goes still under my palm, like she’s deciding whether to allow this. Then the music takes her, and she relaxes into me.

She moves with so much grace. Infuriatingly elegant. But her hand on my shoulder isn’t steady. The pulse at the base of her bare throat races faster than the music. She can wrap herself in all the diplomatic composure she wants. I can still feel the truth of her beneath my hands.

The rest of it blurs. Zahra laughing freely with Marcelina. Chiara with Hyun-seok and the Romanos. Bobby chatting with Camila. Alexei nursing his whiskey, somewhere far behind his own eyes. It all dissolves into noise until there’s only the weight of her in my arms and the space between us I can’t stop wanting to erase.

“You know what I find interesting?” Her gaze is fixed on me now.

“That’s rarely good news.”

“You get jealous when another man so much as stands near me. But you’re the one who keeps pushing me away. Who spends most of his time pretending I don’t exist.”

I go still for half a step. Then resume.

“I’m not pushing you away.”

“You did. Yesterday.” She says it gently, and it’s somehow worse than the challenge. “In the corridor. Before breakfast.”

I open my mouth to answer—and her heel snaps.

Her balance gives way beneath her, a sharp tilt sideways, and I have her before she’s finished falling. My arm clamps around her waist, pulling her flush against my chest. Both her hands land flat over my heart, close enough that I feel her gasp more than I hear it. A few couples around us pause mid-turn.

“My heel,” she breathes.

I glance down. Snapped clean at the base.

Of course it is. It seems the entire universe has conspired against us getting one full sentence out before something breaks.

And I’m done letting it.

I look back up and meet her gaze. Her lips part. Her eyes move slowly over my face, as though she’s reading something she was never meant to find. The terrace narrows to the heat of her hands through my shirt, the want clawing up the back of my throat.

Her fingers curl into the front of my jacket.

My eyes drop to her mouth, then lift back to hers.

One more inch. That’s all it would take.