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"We should definitely come back to that later, though," I choked out. Between his touch, his words, and the stubble on his chin brushing against my ear, I was finding it hard to form a coherent thought.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing my hand. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."
SEVENTY-FIVE
ADDISON
Several hours into the fundraiser, Maddox had already raised close to a million dollars. Maddox hired a team to provide live coverage during the event, and we managed a quick live on my feed to give everyone the link to join us.
I hadn't seen Maddox in the last hour.
"Can I have this dance?" Derek smiled, offering me his hand. My lips curled into a smile as I nodded and took his hand.
His hands curled around my waist, and I placed my hands on his shoulders as we started to sway to the music.
"Has anyone told you how absolutely beautiful you look this evening?" Derek said, the heat of his breath fanning across my cheek.
"I think I heard someone say something about that." I chuckled.
"Good because you are undoubtedly the most beautiful woman in the room," he said, and my cheeks heated.
"You're quite the charmer, Mr. Brady." I laughed. His lips curled into a smirk as he pulled me a little closer to him. "You clean up pretty nicely yourself."
"What?" He scowled sarcastically. "This old thing. I had to knock the dust off before putting it on." Derek was dressed in a custom-tailored Armani black tuxedo that I was sure was specially made for him for this event.
"Well, it cleaned up nicely." I smiled.
After several long seconds of silence Derek spoke again.
Derek cleared his throat. "I caught your last couple of lives with Maddox," he said, leading me around the dance floor. "You weren't kidding when you said it was complicated."
"Yeah," I sighed. "Maddox and I have a pretty complicated past, and there are still some unresolved feelings. I guess more than I realized." We swayed to the music, twisting and turning as couples danced around us.
"Yeah, I got that from the live." He laughed. "And from the way he's looking at me like he wants to kill me right now."
"It's not like that," I said. "It's hard to explain."
"You're blind if you think it's not like that," Derek leaned back, his gaze locking on mine. "I've only known Maddox a few years, but he never looked at Becca the way he looks at you." I forced a smile. "Let's do a little test." His hand wrapped around my arms, guiding them tighter around his neck.
"A test?"
"Yes." He smirked. "If my test works, Maddox will walk away from smooth-talking his donors, storm over here, and ask to cut in." I wasn't interested in playing games with Maddox, especially not here, but he didn't give me a chance to argue. His hand slid around, and he placed his palm flat against the bare skin of my back just above my ass and jerked me flush against him as we continued swaying to the music. "Well, that didn't take as long as I thought," he whispered. "He's on his way." I twisted to look, but Derek stopped me, holding me in place against him. "If it doesn't work out with Maddox, you have my number."
I didn't have a chance to respond before Maddox spoke.
"Mind if I cut in?" Maddox said, a sharp edge to his tone.
Derek released me and stepped back. "See you later, Addison." Derek winked before handing me off to Maddox. Maddox tangled his fingers into mine, leading me off the dance floor, through the banquet area, and into a dark, quiet room in the back of the building that appeared to be a storage room for the banquet tables.
"Maddox," I snapped. "What are we doing?"
"I don't want to play games, Addison," Maddox growled, pushing me flat against the wall and placing a hand on either side of my head, caging me in.
"Maddox," I started.
"I was serious last night, Addy," he said, dropping his head to mine. His tone was low and threatening. "You are mine. I don't want to share." He pressed his body into mine. "If Derek or anyone else touches you like that again, I'll break their fucking fingers."
"We were just dancing, Maddox," I breathed.
