Page 77 of Fake it for Keeps

I returned to the ballroom, scanning for her in the crowd. She was still at our table, but now she was alone, the investors having moved on to network with other guests. She looked small in the sea of wealth and privilege, and something protective surged through me again.

Mine.

The word echoed in my head, primal and possessive.

When had that happened? When had Hallie stopped being a convenient solution to my reputation problem and started being mine?

I made my way back to her. She looked up with a smile that had my cock jerking in my pants.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Perfect.” I held out my hand. “Dance with me.”

She blinked. “Really?”

“Right now.”

The orchestra was playing something slow and romantic. Couples swayed on the dance floor, holding each other close. Hallie placed her hand in mine and allowed me to lead her into the crowd.

When I pulled her against me, her sharp intake of breath was gratifying. I kept one hand in her lower back, the other holding hers, and started moving us through the crowd.

“I didn’t know you could dance,” she murmured.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” I spun her out and back in, earning a surprised laugh. “My mother insisted. Years of cotillion and ballroom lessons.”

“Poor little rich boy.”

“Something like that.” I pulled her closer, until there was barely any space between us. “But it’s coming in handy now, isn’t it?”

“I bet this is how you woo all the ladies.”

I chuckled. “Ballroom dancer is one of my least impressive qualities.”

Her nostrils flared. Oh, she was definitely thinking about my other qualities. I liked flirting with her. I liked her reaction. It was so natural. So organic. She was turned on by me. Not Colt Jesson the playboy.

Just me.

I pulled her close, putting my face close to her head and inhaling the fruity scent of her shampoo. It blended perfectly with the citrus notes in the perfume she wore. I was somewhat familiar with perfumes. Last year we had done a collaboration with a popular fragrance house. I learned how to pick up the notes. Hers was giving citrus, maybe a little vanilla, and a faint musk.

It wasn’t expensive, but it was good.

I inhaled again.

“Are you sniffing me?” she asked.

I grinned. “I am. You smell good.”

I leaned back to look at her, and it felt like I had been struck by lightning. There was an actual zinging sensation tearing through my body.

The way her lips parted slightly as she looked up at me. The rapid pulse in her throat.

She was beautiful.

We moved together like we’d been doing this for years instead of minutes. She followed my lead perfectly, her body responding to the slightest pressure from my hands. We fit together in a way that felt inevitable.

Right.

“Colt,” she whispered.