AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She felt the rejection like a slap. She stepped back, frowning when he took his time releasing her from his hold. Their interlude had been wonderful, a fairy tale come true for a drink and a dance.
And now it was over. She’d learned her lesson and stopped reaching for the stars when it came to relationships and people. Some stars would always be too far out of reach. That she had wanted their time together to last longer than the song they’d danced to made it even more imperative that she leave now. When it came to people, wanting and hoping were fatal flaws. People died, like her father. People left, like her mother. Constanza had left her in the end, even if it hadn’t been her choice.
People were unpredictable. Uncontrollable. They could inflict pain, even if they didn’t mean to.
Evolet’s eyes drifted back to the stage. The memory of the gleaming wood of her cello calmed the tumultuous emotions tangling and fighting for dominance in her chest. She could depend on her cello, her talents and her own hard work.
Yes, she’d been able to depend on her dark-haired stranger for a dance. She hadn’t even realized that she had entertained a brief fantasy that their time together would extend beyond the music. But he had reminded her with his swift rejection of her inquiry that there was nothing between them but the novelty of a few minutes spent together in a luxurious surrounding. He’d find her interesting tonight, perhaps a little longer. Then his curiosity would pass, along with the uniqueness of the company of a struggling cellist. He would return to his world, and she’d return to hers.
She had no desire to experience that emotional roller coaster. Especially, she acknowledged reluctantly, because this man had the potential to leave her with some deep scars on her already battered heart.
“It’s late,” she said in answer to his frown.
He glanced down at his watch. The stainless steel band glinted under the lights of the chandelier. Probably cost more than her cello.
“It’s just past eight o’clock.”
“And it’ll take me an hour to get home.” She held out her hand. “Thank you for the dance.”
She knew she’d made a mistake the moment his fingers enveloped hers in a firm grip. The sensation of his skin sliding against hers made her gasp. Her heart pounded so fiercely she wondered if he could hear it above the music.
Yet when her eyes darted up to his face, it was to meet an impenetrable emerald gaze that doused the lingering sparks of her attraction.
“Enjoy the rest of your evening,” he said coolly.
She nodded and turned away, then wove her way among the dancers as she tried to keep her pace steady so it didn’t look like she was running. She breathed in deeply and summoned her mental checklist. The music, clinks of glasses and murmurs of conversation faded as she ran down her tasks: collect her cello, grab her coat, walk to the Fifty-Ninth Street subway station.
She’d almost made it to the edge of the ballroom when temptation reared its evil little head. With a resigned sigh, she looked over her shoulder for one last glance at the opulence she’d enjoyed and, perhaps, the man who had briefly whisked her into a fantasy.
Another mistake, she realized belatedly. He stood on the opposite side of the ballroom, a fresh drink in hand, leaning against the bar with a casual, aloof stance as two women in stunning evening gowns talked to him. The redhead laid her hand on the sleeve of his jacket in a gesture Evolet recognized as the move of a woman who had found something she wanted.
Her stomach sank. Ridiculous to experience jealousy over a man she had just met—and would never meet again. Even more foolish to be disappointed that her suspicion that she was nothing more than a blip in his wealthy existence had been proven accurate.
He looked up, and she bit back a gasp as he stared right at her. Desire flared low in her belly before burning a trail through her veins. Images filled her mind, of bodies tangled together in a carnal dance far more intimate than the one they had just shared.
The erotic vividness of her fantasy shocked her. Her lips parted, and despite the distance between them, she saw his gaze darken. Was it her imagination, or did the air around her grow heavy, pressing on her skin with the promise of what could be between them?
Between you and a man you barely know?
She grabbed on to the thin thread of sanity that broke through. A man who, in less than ten minutes, she’d shared one of the most defining moments of her life with.
No matter what existed between them for a night, a man like that would walk away with a woman’s heart and never look back.
Evolet turned and fled.
CHAPTER THREE
DAMONHITENDon the call and let out a slow, satisfied breath. His lips quirked up at the corners as his blood hummed with pride. Bradford Global was in the final three for the manufacturing of Royal Air’s upcoming fleet of jets.
Based out of Sweden, Royal Air had taken the travel world by storm ten years ago. They’d released a line of luxury planes that offered amenities on their transatlantic flights no longer found elsewhere unless someone had the good fortune, literally, to afford a first-class ticket. Three-course meals served on china plates, a complimentary cocktail and enough space for passengers over five feet tall—all at the same rates as their competitors—had catapulted them to superstardom.
Now they were building ten new planes, to be completed in two years or less as Royal Air’s contract stipulated. With each plane worth close to $130 million dollars, it was a contract that had ignited fierce competition.
Winning the contract would be the ultimate achievement of his tenure as head of Bradford Global.
He glanced back at the hotel, at the glittering people wandering in and out of the bank of glass doors that lined the main entrance facing West Fifty-Ninth Street and the southern end of Central Park. There were some people inside he genuinely liked, some he even considered friends.
None of them would understand the value of the Royal Air contract beyond the dollar signs attached to it. In moments like this, the faint pain that lingered just out of sight swelled into an ache that wrapped around his heart and squeezed so hard he had to force himself to breathe deeply.
