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“Everyone is looking at you.”
Over my shoulder, I glimpse a few gazes in my direction, one of whom comes from the man I followed inside. “This bothers you.”
“Yes.” He steps around the cage until he’s standing beside me, and a shiver skitters down my back when his lips feather my ear. Heat blooms inside of me, the dress suddenly too hot and tight against my skin. “It’s as if they want to consume you alive. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, like the moths to the candle.”
I turn just enough that our lips nearly touch. “You were looking at me, too.”
Scintillating amber eyes dip to my dress and back. “If I suspected any one of these bastards were thinking the same thing I was when I first saw you, I’d kill them all.”
“I’m too young for you, remember?”
“You are.” The gentle brush of his knuckles along the edge of my neck has my heart hammering inside my chest. “And too tempting.”
“What torture that must be.”
“You have no idea. Particularly with how ravishing you look tonight.”
“Then, why put yourself through it?” I glance around the room at the more scantily clad women, most likely hired as entertainment for anyone who came alone. “There seems to be plenty of women your age here. Why trouble yourself, at all, with me?”
“I ask myself the same question. Somehow, the more I stay away, the more I can’t. That’s the tragedy in all of this. The ceaseless draw of the flame.”
“For a ruthless businessman, that’s awfully undisciplined of you.”
“Ruthless, indeed. And curious as hell.”
“What kind of curiosities plague the mind of a devil?”
The richness of his chuckle hits a nerve somewhere inside of me, the mask emphasizing an unearthly beautiful smile that sends goosebumps across my skin. Coming to a stand behind me, facing away from the crowd, he presses his steel chest into my back, once again reminding me of his size. Every cell in my body flares to life, when he slides his hand down my arm and threads his fingers in mine, the strength in them clasped around my more delicate bones. At the scratch of his mask against my neck, I tilt my head, allowing him full access. “What I wouldn’t give to peel this dress off of you. Slowly.”
“They’re watching us, aren’t they?”
“I approached you intentionally, Isa. I’d hate for anyone to make the mistake of thinking you’re fair game.”
“Including you.”
“Especially me.”
Desire simmers in my blood, when his lips press against the pulsing vein in my neck. “You’re the most confusing person I’ve ever met.”
“And you’re the most irresistible.” He kisses his way up my neck to my ear, where he nips my lobe, and I squeeze my fingers in his.
“I gave you the green light already. What more do you need?”
“That’s just it. What I want, and what I need, are two edges of the same blade.” With my head still tipped, he licks the shell of my ear. “I want you to tell me if any of these men proposition you tonight. Do you understand?”
“Why? What will it mean, if they do?”
“That’s my concern, not yours.”
“And if I welcome it?”
His fingers tighten around mine, and he exhales a sharp breath against my throat. “That will be my concern, as well.”
I hate that I’m putty in this man’s hands. That all it takes is a few poetic words and expert placement of his lips to leave me panting like an eager puppy.
“I meant to ask you. You could’ve had anyone play for you tonight. Why me?”
“Anyone else wouldn’t have been half as enthralling to watch as you.” With a tug, he leads me away from the cage, toward the piano.
