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He stopped right behind me and whispered in my ear, “Ready to get out of here?”
Our gazes were still locked in the mirror. He’d brought a hand to my lower back, resting it there, as if the fact that he’d touched me once had broken some barrier between us.
“I have to be here at the end for the raffle.” Everyone had bid on donated items ranging from art to around-the-world trips, and the winners would be announced at the end.
He was now feathering his hand up and down my back. I kept my composure as long as he was touching my dress, but when I felt three roughened fingers on my bare shoulder blades, I couldn’t help the sizzle that went through me.
“You don’t trust me to bring you back by the end of the evening?” His voice was playful and conspiratorial, but his eyes had a deliciously dark and edgy glint.
I swallowed, licking my lips. Somewhere in the past seconds, he’d moved so close that my arm was pressed along his chest. At least it wasn’t my boob this time. People were crushing in on us from all sides. Was he so close because he wanted to be or because he didn’t have another choice?
“We’ll just disappear for a few hours, take a much-needed breath.”
“You promised we’ll enjoy ourselves, remember? Taking a breath sounds... boring.”
His expression changed to a smile that was downright... wolfish. “I didn’t say that will be the only thing we’ll be doing. So? Trust me?”
I nodded, finally turning around so I wasn’t looking in the mirror, but at him directly.
“What do you want to drink?”
“Chardonnay.”
“A bottle of chardonnay and two glasses, please,” Carter ordered.
“We don’t need an entire bottle,” I whispered to him.
“I know, but it’s easier than carrying two full glasses.”
While we waited, more people crammed in around the counter, squishing us together. Carter was right behind me, and I had to make a concerted effort to keep my ass from pressing against his crotch.
“You smell amazing,” he murmured against my skin. When I felt the tip of his nose on the side of my neck, a white-hot sizzle shot through me, making every muscle in my body strum. Oh, God... how could that tiny contact set me on edge like this?
When the bartender finally set the items on the counter, I grabbed the glasses by the stems, while Carter took the ice bucket with the wine bottle. Then he interlaced our free hands and led me through the crowd. He was holding me as if I belonged to him. My pulse thrummed in my ears as we made our way through the packed room, and then the terrace. We descended the marble steps and stepped into the garden. The crowd thinned the more distance we put between ourselves and the building.
“This garden is huge,” I commented.
“You’ve never been here before?”
“No. You?”
“Several times.”
We slowed our pace now that we’d escaped the crowd. Carter let go of my hand, pointing to a narrow alley lined with evergreens on both sides.
“This way.”
I walked next to him, enjoying the sudden quiet. It seemed a few degrees cooler too. We walked until we came upon an opening on the right side of the hedgerow.
“Wow.” We entered a smaller, private garden with a fountain in the middle. It had a circular edge made out of stone that was wide enough to sit.
“Can we sit there?”
“Sure.”
“Oh. I’ve been dying to sit all night.”
“After you.” He chuckled, keeping a hand on my lower back as we headed toward it. Now that we were alone, the contact felt different. Intimate.
