Neither of us moves.
“Later?” I ask. “After this? Come back to my place?” I’d told her my plans earlier, but I have to make sure she’s okay with it. I don’t want her to feel like I’m forcing her.
Silence stretches between us.
“Okay,” she finally says. “But we leave separately.”
“Deal.”
Then she disappears into the crowd, leaving me standing alone in my ridiculous pirate costume, feeling like the luckiest idiot in the room.
She's coming home with me.
20
Avery
I'm at the bar getting a refill on my champagne when I spot Jennifer across the room. She's in a Cleopatra costume, talking animatedly with someone I don't recognize. Our eyes meet briefly, and I freeze.
Does she recognize me? Did she see me dancing with Liam?
But she just smiles before returning to her conversation. I exhale slowly. She doesn't. Liam and I were just two costumed strangers dancing at a party.
Still, my heart is racing as I take my drink and move toward the balcony, needing air. I'm standing there, looking out at the city lights, when I hear a voice behind me.
“Pardon me, my lady.”
I turn to find my pirate standing there with exaggerated formality. He removes his hat and bows deeply.
“The carriage awaits to convey you safely to your residence,” he says in the most ridiculous Victorian accent I've ever heard. “It would be most improper for a lady of your station to traverse the city streets unescorted at this late hour.”
I press my lips together to keep from laughing.
He puts his hat back on with flourish. “The driver has been instructed to await your convenience. Good evening, my lady.”
And then he's gone, disappearing into the crowd.
I wait exactly five minutes before making my excuses to Harper and heading for the elevator. My heart pounds the entire way down, excited to finally be alone with Liam.
As fun as the party was, anticipation coils tight in my stomach.
My body is thrumming with need, hyperaware of long it’s been since he last touched me. Since Chicago, it's like a monster has been awoken. I'm insatiable. I want his hands, his mouth, his body. I want everything, and I want it now.
Hudson is parked outside the building, and the moment I step onto the sidewalk, Liam opens the back door from inside.
“My lady,” he says as I slide in, his Victorian accent even more exaggerated than before. “I trust you found the evening's festivities most agreeable?”
I laugh then get into character. “Most agreeable indeed, good sir. Though I confess myself quite fatigued from such exertions.”
He scoots in then shuts the door with a sigh. “One must take great care to preserve one's delicate sensibilities.”
“My sensibilities are perfectly robust, I assure you.”
“Ah, but a lady must maintain the appearance of fragility, must she not? Lest the gentlemen of society find her too formidable.”
I turn to face him fully, fighting back laughter. “And what if a lady does not care for the opinions of gentlemen?”
“Then she is a most revolutionary creature.” His lips twitch. “One might even call her dangerous.”
