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I know what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to humiliate me. To make me uncomfortable. To throw me off-balance. But it’s not going to work.
Standing, I turn to face him, our faces breaths away. “Do you?”
Something like curiosity flares in his eyes. They slip along my lips and down my neck. I can feel the blazing trail of his gaze as we stand there. Finally, those eyes flick back up to mine, any and all curiosity long gone. Instead, those gray eyes have turned to ice. I hold my breath.
“I look forward to breaking you,” he murmurs, brushing the dark tendrils of hair over my shoulder. His fingers skim the bare skin at my neck, and heat flares from his touch. The breath flees from my lungs.
“And if I break you first?” I whisper.
His lips curl into a slow smile, taunting me. “I’d love to see you try,tesorina.”
I don’t know whattesorinais, but I highly doubt he meant it as a compliment. My cheeks flush, anger flashing in my chest. My head tips up, mouth opening to fully tell him off…and that’s when I realized just how close we were. He’d angled his head just as I had, our lips nearly brushing. I could feel his breath on my cheek, smelling of mint, and…something else I can’t place that is just as intoxicating. Just being near him made my brain go fuzzy, with only one thing on my mind.
With a jolt, I step back. Just a few seconds alone with him, and already, I’m losing my head.
“I’m going through this for my family,” I hiss, feeling my anger rising. “We’ll go through this sham, act like the perfect couple, but that is it. You will not touch me. You will not kiss me.Nothing.” My finger jabs into his chest. It’s rock solid. “Got that?”
Killian’s smile disappears, replaced with an intensity that makes my stomach curl. He catches my fingers, pinning them. “And what makes you think I want you?”
Humiliation washes through me. It burns across my cheeks, threatening to turn me to ash right then and there. “Promise me right here, right now, that you won’t lay a fucking finger on me.”
He seems amused. “That’s an easy promise to make.”
“Then say it.”
His voice drops, those gray eyes burning. “I promise I won’t touch you.”
Yanking my hand away, I push past him. I know he could stop me if he wanted to. But he doesn’t.
I barge out of the bathroom, fuming. There’s no way I can go back to the table now. Even though I know my father would be absolutely furious with me. I just couldn’t. So, for the first time in my life, I walked away. Racing down the steps to the elevator, I kept expecting to hear my father’s voice behind me. But there was nothing. It wasn’t until I was out in the street that I realized a flaw in my plan.
My father’s driver had taken us here.
Cursing, I yank my phone out of the tiny purse I’d matched with the dress. Sadie picks up on the first ring, thank God.
“I need you to come get me.” The words rush out of me in one breath. “Right now.”
“Are you okay?” Sadie sounds startled, but I could already hear her grabbing her keys.
“Yes—” I hesitate. “No. I’ll tell you what I can when you get here. Just please hurry.”
I hide in the alley beside the building until I see Sadie’s car pull up. The Range Rover stops at the front, red tail lights bright in the darkness. Hurrying to the passenger side, I knock on the window until Sadie unlocks the car door.
She doesn’t say a word as she drives off, waiting for me to fill the silence. I can’t find the words just yet. Sadie knows nothing of this life. Knows nothing of what we really do. And she won’t entirely understand it, but that’s the best thing about Sadie—she just listens.
I take a deep breath. “What I’m about to say…you’re going to think is insane. But I just need to get it out there.” Sadie frowns but says nothing.
“My father is looking to expand his business. And the people he wants to partner with have…a brother around my age. I think he’s a few years older, I don’t know.” My fingers twist in the fabric of the dress, the small gemstones glittering beneath the street lamps. “They basically want us to be together.”
Sadie’s head whips towards me, mouth parting slightly. “Wait, what? Like an arranged marriage thing?”
“Exactly that,” I mutter, unable to meet her eyes. “I know it’s archaic. But it’s what they want.”
“You said no, right?” I say nothing. “Please tell me you said no.” I grimace.
Sadie turns back to the road. “Oh my god, Cara. I really don’t know what to say. I mean, I know you really want to join your father’s business when you graduate, but is this worth it? What if the guy is a total prick? What if he’s ugly?”
I snort, the words falling out before I can stop them. “Well, the last part I definitely know isn’t true.”
