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Franco tried to get back into that meditative state again as he smoothed out his outfit, wearing only his tight-fitted briefs. He wondered why he had invited her if she was going to be such a distraction. But then his lion answered without a moment of hesitation.
You want her there. You want to be able to touch her any time you want. Even if she wasn’t there, you’d be thinking about doing it, wouldn’t you?
Franco tried to ignore his beast, but it was fruitless. He knew the pull of the fated mate was something no shifter could deny. He was an intelligent and self-aware man. She appealed to him, not only due to her physical form but also due to her very essence. That was the nature of the fated mate. You had no control over who your heart would be eternally linked to.
All you could control was the behavior you applied outside of it.
Franco turned on some jazz music as he dressed. He spent most of the afternoon talking to Cornel, Samantha, and Felix about the adjustments that needed to be made for the race the day after the next. As close as he would come to his usual ability to focus, his mind would drift like flotsam in the sea, back to Violet, those succulent lips, those big ocean-blue eyes, the parts of her that had been hidden from him thus far that called to him like a siren.
He was fucked, and he knew it. He rubbed his face after getting dressed, still questioning his reasoning for inviting her. As much as he knew she would be the only thing he would think about, he relished the consideration of her outfit, perfume, and hairstyle. He closed the door behind him just before five o’clock.
Franco waited in the lobby lounge area while a pianist tenderly stroked the keys of a piano nearby. He engulfed himself in his phone, continuing to study the track in his mind when the sweetest voice chimed into his awareness.
“Ready to go?”
Franco gazed up from his phone at the goddess presented before him.
She wore a long aquamarine-colored dress that lined her waist, hips, and ass like a daydream, the boning of the sides tight and form-fitted. Her top half was busting, her breasts held up by a finely tuned brazier, her fine and delicate skin exposed in a scoop neck that cascaded downward toward some delicious and tasteful cleavage.
Violet had also pinned her hair up in a loose bun, the dark strands curling down the sides of her fetching face. Her lips were adorned in coral lipstick, while her eye makeup coordinated with the seaside theme of her dress.
To say that Franco was stunned would be an understatement. He felt like he had been shot in the face with a soccer ball, his phone nearly tipping out of his hand and descending to the floor.
He managed to get his wobbly legs together and stood, a waft of her cherry blossom fragrance making him dizzy. He adjusted his suit, already losing himself inside the glittering wonders of her irises.
“You look spectacular,” he said, somehow, his throat feeling suddenly dry.
Violet chortled, then scanned him with a tentatively raised eyebrow. Franco felt his cock twitch in his pants. God, she had absolutely bewitched him.
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said, her voice a sing-song pleasantry.
A car waited for them, and he held out his elbow for her to hold onto while they walked through the lobby. She looked surprised before she took it, the soft skin of her slender hands lightly brushing against his.
He held the door for her like a good gentleman and then climbed in beside her. The community center where the event was being held wasn’t far, but he wanted to have time to reassure her before they entered.
The driver put the car into gear, the two of them sitting closer than ever before in the back seat. Violet had her legs crossed, some lovely patches of skin just above the knee exposed to him.
He felt the urge to touch her shoulders again, but that was all so casual. He wanted her to know that he meant what he was about to say and also that he wanted to do far more than simply touch her.
He realized that he was letting himself go downhill. He might regret it later, especially when it came to the race, but he couldn’t ignore the Aphrodite sitting next to him. He had to know what she tasted like in the throes of ecstasy. He couldn’t live without knowing.
Franco carefully placed a hand on her leg, just above the knee. She jerked her head toward him, not in rage but with satisfied shock.
“I want you to know that tonight it’s not going to be like last night,” he said, settling his hand more firmly on her thigh. “I’m not going to blow you off. Though I do need to schmooze a few of the sponsors, I want you there with me. All night.”
Something passed through Violet’s eyes as the car soared down the highway. Her chest rose and fell fast, the scatters of freckles along her collarbone like the scattering of stars in the midnight sky. She swallowed, her tongue slipping out from between her coral beauties before speaking.
“That sounds amazing, Franco.”
“Can I touch you, Violet?”
She paused, regarded his hand, then a devilish grin blossomed on her lips. Oh, how he wanted to kiss her. He could nearly taste her honey already.
“Yes. You can do anything you want,” she whispered.
He knew then and there, as they gazed into each other’s eyes that there was nowhere else he’d rather be than with the dazzling woman beside him. He would forgo the entire night of needing to suck up to the sponsors if he could have just one magical night with her, free and naked, laughing and fucking, until they melted into each other forever.
He kept his hand on her leg as they approached the event. The driver parked and opened the back door for them to walk the red carpet. Franco took her hand as she climbed out of the car and held onto it for the duration of the entire evening.
