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The server stopped by and took our drink orders. I went with a Pinot Grigio, relieved when the server didn’t card me since I was still a year shy of the legal drinking age. Shae was a little older, probably close to Conner’s age.
“You seem to be holding up well. Has a date been set?”
August 1st.
She whistled. “So soon?”
I nodded.No real reason to wait.
“There’s also no reason to rush, assuming neither side plans to back out.”
I guess both sides were anxious to get the deal done.
“I suppose you’re right,” she said with a curious gleam in her eye. “I take it you didn’t have a boyfriend you had to give up?”
Heat seared the tops of my cheeks as I shook my head.
“That’s good.” She flashed an amused grin. “Better than entering a deal like this from beneath a mountain of heartbreak.
She wasn’t wrong. I sipped from my freshly poured wine admitting that things could always have been worse, then stilled when my gaze was hooked by an angry sapphire stare. Conner stood in the shadows of a hallway behind Shae, hidden from Umberto.
He motioned me over to him.
My heart scrambled to respond to a surge of adrenaline. I commanded my body to behave. Conner had bested me that morning, and I refused to give him the upper hand again.
Steadying myself, I passed a note to Shae, excusing myself to the restroom, and marched confidently into battle. Or at least, projecting the appearance of confidence. Inside, I was a quivering mess.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed the second I got close enough.
Conner took my hand and led me farther down the hall and into a small supply room, ignoring my question completely. I didn’t resist, not wanting to risk making a scene. He left the door open, but the only light was what filtered in from the dimly lit hallway.
“You aren’t speaking to her.” His softly spoken observation was laced with curiosity and something else I couldn’t name. Something intimate and seductive.
I shook my head.
“Your voice, Em,” he crooned the command with honeyed authority that made my knees weak. And it was the first time I’d heard my nickname on his tongue. The rumble from his prolonged m reverberated deep into my chest like the purr of an expensive sportscar.
“I’m not ready to talk to anyone else.”
His chin lifted. “Not ready, but you snuck out to dinner with Shae.”
“I’d hardly say taking my bodyguard with me was sneaking. And besides, I wasn’t aware I had to inform you of my plans for dinner with a friend.”
Conner eased himself around me until he stood at my back. His hand swept my hair slowly over my shoulder, causing my entire body to shiver. When he spoke, his lips were inches from my ear. “The last thing on Shae’s mind is friendship, I assure you. And if she has an ounce of self-preservation left in that brain of hers, she won’t look twice at you again.”
I turned my face, realizing too late that I’d brought our lips a breath apart. “You would … hurt her for being nice to me?” I asked breathily.
His lips quirked up in the corners as he stood tall and resumed walking back around to my front. “That woman wants what’s mine. She should know better.” Before I could argue, he continued in a grumble. “She can bare-knuckle box better than half of my men. You don’t need to worry about her.”
“I don’t care how tough she is. She doesn’t deserve your anger. If anyone should be angry, it’s me. How did you even know we were here?”
His eyelids lowered so that only a small sliver of sapphire was visible. “What kind of man would I be if I didn’t protect what’s mine?”
“I’m not yours yet.” I couldn’t quite hold his gaze while saying the words. The intensity of his stare was too much. Or maybe the words themselves were the challenge because I always sucked at lying and could taste the bitterness of the falsehood. It shocked me. I wasn’t sure why I felt any loyalty to this man, but it was there, in the kernel of guilt sprouting in my gut.
Conner placed his hands on either side of my face and brought his lips back to my ear.
“Liar, liar,” he whispered, his warm breath on my skin heating my entire body. “Shall I prove it?” Then his lips were on mine, sucking, tasting, devouring.
