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He felt the weight of both men’s gazes on him. ‘It’s just for show. Bartlett needed reassurance to get him to the table—Emma offered that.’
He saw Dimitri’s eyes lock onto something over his shoulder. ‘I don’t think that’s the only kind of enticement she’s offering,’ Dimitri replied.
Antonio’s stomach clenched even before he had seen her—awaiting, expecting, the punch to the gut he had begun to experience each time he caught sight of her. The hair on his neck prickled as he forced himself not to immediately turn towards the entrance to the bar. Holding off the moment for as long as possible...both punishment and penance.
‘You bloody fool,’ Danyl said.
‘What?’ Antonio asked.
‘You’ve slept with her,’ Dimitri accused.
Finally lifting the leash on his body, Antonio turned to watch her enter the room. She was wearing the midnight-blue lace dress he’d seen her try on in the dressing room the other day. It wrapped around her skin as if it had been painted on, and yet there was nothing indecent about it. Only the reaction it had caused in him.
Because although he was an experienced man, and he’d had his fair share of women, nothing he’d seen until that moment had made him want to back a woman into the nearest room, throw out any people in the near vicinity and rip the clothing from her body.
And Antonio had the unnerving suspicion that she knew it too. She was taunting him in that dress, making him want to take back his promise from only hours before...the promise that they could only ever have one night. Because right then he wanted to live that night over and over and over again.
He watched her walk over to Bartlett, rather than avoiding the man as he himself had done so far. He nearly flinched when she laid her hand on his arm, offering him a smile that was both familiar and pleased. When she whispered something in his ear, eliciting a fond reaction from Bartlett, Antonio nearly broke a wisdom tooth because his jaw was clenched so hard.
‘She’s making some powerful friends, Arcuri,’ Dimitri warned. ‘You’d better watch out.’
Antonio couldn’t take his eyes off her as she turned in their direction and wove through the tables dotted between them. And she held his gaze for all she was worth, right until she stopped barely a foot away from him. Then she turned her amazing smile on his companions.
* * *
‘Gentlemen,’ Emma said by way of introduction, ‘how far into the celebrations are we? Starting gate or halfway?’
‘A little bit of both. Emma, I must say, you look ravishing!’
‘Why, thank you, Dimitri. As always, you look devastatingly handsome.’
‘Careful—if you carry on being so charming I might have to steal you away from Antonio myself.’
She laughed, and laughed even more when she heard Antonio’s answering growl. If she’d ever wondered what it might feel like to be the centre of his world... Well... She was beginning to feel it now.
‘What’s your poison, Emma?’ Dimitri asked, and for all the outward brooding she had seen in him from across the bar when she’d first entered, there was something almost kind in his eyes.
She took in their glasses, and the outrageously expensive bottle of whisky, but decided against the heady amber liquid she now associated with dark nights and deep secrets.
‘Prosecco, please.’
The barman nodded, and placed a full flute on the bar.
She turned to Danyl. ‘Your Highness,’ she said, with a small bow of her head, knowing from experience that anything more overt would rankle. For someone who held such a public position, the Sheikh of Terhren was a deeply private man.
‘My assistant wishes to pass on his congratulations and his immense relief,’ said Danyl. ‘He is very much looking forward to a time when he no longer has to do battle with you. You have knocked his considerable confidence in his own abilities.’
She knew it was flattery, gentle and teasing, and it felt so good to be amongst Antonio’s friends. It wasn’t often that she saw this side of her fiancé—her boss—she hastily corrected herself. Though she couldn’t really say that he was her boss any more. Last night had put an end to that and replaced stern reminders of her place with delicate strands of hope. Hope that this could be so much more.
She turned to greet Antonio and the words stuck in her throat. He looked so sexy, so powerful. He hadn’t changed, as she had, and was still dressed in the same dark trousers and shirt open at the collar that he had been wearing earlier that day. But where before there had only been traces of stubble, now a dark shadow covered the planes of his cheeks and strong jawline and her fingers itched to reach out, to touch the deliciously rough edges.
She didn’t have to wonder what he thought of the dress. It was all there in his eyes. It was the same struggle she’d had when she’d looked in the mirror before coming to the bar. Was this the right thing to do? Was she brave enough to take what she wanted and damn the consequences?
Looking at Antonio in that moment, she felt a smile pull at the edge of her lips. One that found a quick answer.
He leaned in and bent his mouth to her ear. The warmth of his breath threw cold shivers down her back as his words reached her.
‘You’re going to pay for wearing this dress later,’ he warned darkly.
