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‘Sure. I’ll call you,’ Shane says distantly.
His brother turns towards me. ‘Goodnight. Enjoy your meal,’ he says formally.
‘Thank you,’ I whisper.
He turns away and takes two steps before turning back to look at Shane. ‘I’ll be waiting for your call.’
Shane nods.
His brother walks away and Shane turns back to me. ‘I suppose you’ve lost your appetite.’ His voice crackles with aggression, but his gaze is innocuous.
I nod slowly.
The expression on his face changes and he looks at me wistfully. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Seeing the look of disappointment in his eyes as if I have betrayed him, is unbearable. Tears sting the backs of my eyes. I feel as if I have ruined everything. Unable to look into his eyes I gaze down at my clenched fists. ‘I’m sorry,’ I tell my hands. ‘I was going to. Really I was. I just didn’t want to spoil our evening.’
I look up and he is leaning back against the chair and looking at me expressionlessly.
Mario appears at Shane’s elbow, his large smile quickly faltering at the tension he finds between us. ‘Something to drink perhaps?’ he suggests uneasily.
Shane doesn’t look at him. ‘Can you give us a minute, Mario?’
‘Certainly,’ Mario says, and with an expansive gesture, backs off.
Shane sighs. ‘Do you want to stay, Snow?’
‘Are you going to carry on being angry?’ I ask anxiously.
His mouth twists ruefully. ‘I’m not angry now.’
‘It sure looks like it to me,’ I say miserably.
He reaches a hand out and gently traces his knuckle along my jaw line. ‘My poor Snow. Did you have fun here with Lenny?’ he asks.
‘No.’ My voice is strangled.
‘No tequila shots upstairs?’
I shake my head.
Shane laughs suddenly. ‘Then you haven’t really been to Lady Marmalade at all,’ he declares, and raises his hand. Mario must have been hanging around watching because he materializes at our side like a genie out of a bottle.
‘Give us the works, Mario,’ he says.
Mario raises his hand like the conductor of an orchestra and says, ‘Bravo.’
So the evening begins. A bottle of champagne is popped and glasses filled. Shane is funny and cheeky and sexy all at once. We eat the insanely good food and then he takes me upstairs where there is a bar and a dance floor. We do tequila shots at the bar and then Shane whirls me off to dance. We join the conga line of someone else’s party and I laugh until my stomach aches.
‘If I die tomorrow, I’ll die happy,’ I tell him.
He pulls me towards him. ‘I won’t. Not while you’re with him. Even dead I don’t want him to have you. He doesn’t deserve you,’ he growls.
I stare up at him, shocked by the passion in his voice.
Mario gives me a little box of chocolate truffles as we are leaving. ‘I noticed that you liked them. Have them for later,’ he says with a nod and a wink.
‘Thank you,’ I say, surprised and touched by the gift.
