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“You’re holding me.”
“And you feel so damn breakable. So fucking good.”
“I can still hit you. Hurt you.”
“Do it and I won’t be able to stop what I do in return, Ily.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Stop using my name. It’s not yours to use.”
“Mine’s Henri. Now you know what to scream.”
My mouth hung open at his audacity.
My heart tripped over his words.
And my body…good lord, my body betrayed me.
I was wet.
Tingly.
Confused.
Who the hell is this man?
Terrified nausea roiled, churning with desperation to get far, far away. “Look, Henri…I’ve had enough. This has gone on long enough and—”
“It’s only just begun.” He bent from his tall height, pressing his nose to mine. “I’m truly sorry, you know. So fucking sorry—”
“Sorry for what?” Sam snapped, his hand still locked around the envelope of cash. “What the fuck are you two whispering about?”
The deafening music returned.
The humidity of many dancers.
The awareness that we weren’t alone.
It all slammed back in, drenching my senses.
How did he do that?
How did a single touch and a whispered threat make the world drop away, leaving me bound with a total stranger, locked together by some sick connection?
With a pained growl, Henri unwound his arm from around my waist but didn’t let go of my wrist. He glowered at Sam as if he’d happily murder him for interrupting.
Sam swallowed as suspicions flared in his eyes. His face hardened as he repeated his question. “What were you two whispering about? She didn’t say anything bad about me, did she? Whatever she said, it’s a lie. She’s always been a liar. A nobody. She was only somebody because she was with me, and now—”
“Oh…Sam.” I shook my head sadly.
In that terrible moment, I saw him.
Truly saw all the pieces I’d been so stupidly blind to: the immaturity, the selfishness, the ego.
He was more afraid of me badmouthing him to a total stranger than he was at condemning his soul for ever entertaining accepting cash for me.
All my puff and bluster evaporated like a punctured balloon. “Oh, you idiotic, self-centred fool, Sam.” Tears stung my eyes, and the man holding me shot me a quizzical look.
His nostrils flared at the first glimmer of my tears.
