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Yeah, that’s all I had. Oh. The man had successfully stolen all brain function from me, filling me with delicious shivers, and all I had left in my arsenal was a freaking lame oh.
He leaned in confidentially closer, smelling like temptation incarnate. “Can I confess something to you?”
“Uh…” Dammit. I seriously needed to come up with other words besides uh and oh. “Didn’t you just confess something?”
“Yeah, but this one’s worse than mere jealousy.”
“Worse? Really?” I moved closer to him, nearly licking my lips with how nice this all felt. “Tell me.”
“Promise you won’t get mad first.”
I laughed. “No way. I reserve the right to get mad about anything I want.”
“Damn.” He let out am impressed whistle. “That should make me not want to tell you, but I really liked that answer, so now I think I have to tell you.”
“You do. You definitely do,” I agreed, grinning, just as I realized I was leaning toward him as much as he was leaning toward me. “If you don’t tell me, I won’t give you your second shoe back.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” With a chuckle, he once again reached for the stray lock of hair by my left ear. Running it between his fingers, he gave a long, dramatic sigh. “So I guess I must confess that I objectified you when you entered the ballroom earlier with Carmichael. I’m a total ass man, you see, and yours…” He let out a low whistle as he dropped my hair from between his fingers and took a step back. “It looks really good in yellow spandex. I got a little obsessed with watching you wherever you went. In fact, I came out here to cool off because I was worried I was staring too much. Then, lo and behold, there you appeared in the doorway. Like something had beckoned you to me.”
My lips parted with awe. “Wow,” I whispered. “Sounds like some serious evil maleficent work in action, there.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of good magic,” he said, glancing toward the Marcella statue.
I glanced toward my mother as well. The moon glinted off her raised hands as if she might be summoning some kind of supernatural power. The good kind.
“So?” Maleficent asked. “Are you mad?”
Mad? How could I be mad about something so good and magical bringing us together?
Oh, wait, yeah. Mad because he’d objectified and ogled my butt. Well…
I guess I probably should be. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t even a smidgen uncomfortable by it, not like the way I’d been when Christopher had looked at my breasts, or you know, when I thought he’d been looking at my breasts but had only been checking out my stained shirt.
“I think I’m actually flattered. There were a lot of really slinky costumes tonight. A slutty nurse, slutty Minnie Mouse, slutty pirate. They all certainly had a lot more cleavage and leg showing than I do. But you saw little ol’ me, the Power Ranger.”
He laughed and reached for my piece of hair again. “Were there other women in the ballroom? Hmm. Didn’t notice.”
I grinned even as I rolled my eyes, though he probably couldn’t see the move. I was about to tell him his sucking up to get in good with me was pathetic, even though I actually liked it, but he spoke again.
“You stared after him when he walked away.”
“What?”
Seriously, it was hard to follow his thought process sometimes. He jumped from topic to topic without warning. Except I liked that too. He had quirks, just like I did. Plus, it kept me guessing and on my toes. Interested.
“Hayden Carmichael,” he explained. “You watched him walk away with the cookie you gave him. Like you might be interested in him.”
“Trust me, I’m not.” I laughed, amused as much as I was flustered. He was kind of like a dog with a bone when he wanted information. It was as endearing as it was aggravating. “Not the way you think. I was just happy I got him to smile. You might not know this about Hayden, but he doesn’t smile often.”
“So… No flirting there, then,” Maleficent surmised with an approving nod.
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “Geez. If you think that was me flirting, you seriously need to learn a few things, buddy.”
“You’re right,” he murmured, moving in closer. So close. “I suck at flirting. I’m much better at just plain kissing.”
And he swept his mouth against mine.
CHAPTER EIGHT
