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“Em, what the fuck are you doing?”
I froze when I heard Vaughn’s voice behind me. He was in the parlor.
“I’m going to hyperventilate or throw up or both.” I glared at him. “I can’t sit out there and eat soup.”
“Eating soup is normal.” His jaw moved sharply. He was tense. “You need to get back to the table and be normal.”
“How? She’s here,” I hissed. “She knows.”
He grabbed my shoulders. His fingers pressing into my flesh. “She knows nothing.” He eyed me. “She’s here because every millionaire and billionaire in France is at this gala.”
I felt my pulse race. It was anger, not adrenaline. “Did you know she was going to be here?”
“No.” His eyes narrowed. “But where there’s money, there’s Blackwing.” He released me. “It doesn’t change anything. She doesn’t know. If she knew, we wouldn’t be here. We’d be crammed in a dark hole somewhere in a French warehouse.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
“Forget I said that part. Just go out there and be normal. Stop focusing on Eloise.”
“How can I? She can stop everything. She could take you away from me.”
“Em.” His eyes had the ability to cut right through me.
“No, listen. Listen.” I was frantic. “All week we’ve planned and plotted. And I listened to you. I never had the chance to say how I was feeling. What scared me. What freaked me out.”
“You can do that later when we’re drinking fruity drinks with umbrellas and looking at the ocean. Not here. Not now.”
“No.” I stood my ground. “What happens if she knows? What happens if you go back into the darkness? What am I supposed to do?”
“I’m not going to let you talk about that possibility, because it isn’t going to happen. This will work.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know there is no one stronger in this world. There is no one else I trust to be my partner. Because you are the one who is leading me into the light tonight.”
Instead of fear, my chest filled with unyielding warmth. God, I loved him.
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him harder than I ever had. If it was possible for a kiss to speak my words, this one said I was in. I was ready to take him into the sun.
He pressed his thumb to his mouth to wipe the lipgloss away. He raised his e
yebrows. “Are you ready to finish the job, babe?”
I nodded. “You’re right. I’ve got this.”
He eyed me again, his gaze skimming the neckline of my dress. “Too bad we can’t stay in here a few more minutes.”
I surprised myself when I giggled. “Too bad.” I placed my hand in his.
“There is a five-star meal waiting for us.”
Together we strolled through the hall and returned to the table. I caught Eloise’s eye when we walked past her table. I smiled and held Vaughn’s hand a little tighter. He was mine. And there wasn’t a chance I was giving him back to her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
When dinner was over we walked with Paul and Aubrey to view the auction items on display in the gallery. We discussed bidding on a Swiss chalet together and taking a couples’ trip at the end of spring. Vaughn scribbled his name on a set of golf clubs. I bid on a spa package at a resort near Versailles.
When the last bids had been placed and the winners announced, we waited for Paul to say goodbye to his friends. Vaughn saw someone he knew from Mertech and ran over to talk about an account. He played his role to the bitter end. He was a perfectionist.
