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Cinderella Sweepstakes, indeed. Lauren was pretty certain that she’d been sucked into some kind of fairy tale. But instead of a royal ball, it was a charity gala in Royal and, instead of a prince, she was dancing with the big, bad wolf in an Armani tuxedo. She kept waiting to lose a shoe and turn into a pumpkin, but midnight came and went, and the smooth, seductive prince was still holding her in his arms.
She couldn’t believe it. Or how she was behaving. There was a certain magic to the mask she hadn’t expected when she’d put it on that night. It made her feel bold. Brazen. And beyond reckless. Combined with the dark press of the dance floor, the mask made words flow freely from her lips that she’d never dream of saying without it.
Her masked suitor hadn’t left her side all night. They’d danced, perused the silent auction offerings and nibbled on plates of hors d’oeuvres they’d selected between dances. It was a nice spread rife with cocktail shrimp, sweet-and-spicy meatballs, crostini with caviar, and endive with lump crab and blue cheese. It lacked a certain something that as a chef she noticed, but she wouldn’t dare say as much.
Instead, she ate what she could, hoping some food would help keep her stomach from flip-flopping in her gown. It wasn’t helping, though, because it wasn’t an empty tummy or too much alcohol that was causing her squirrely stomach. It was nerves.
The night was winding down. Judging by the way her companion held her when they danced, their time together was building up to something. Was she ready for it? When those green eyes looked at her through that mask, she felt a pull deep inside.
Yes.
She was ready for anything her handsome masked suitor had to offer. Tonight she was going to do what she felt like doing. Not what was best for the business. What was best for Lauren. And she couldn’t come up with a single reason why giving herself body and soul to the sexy, articulate man holding her in his arms was a bad idea. She’d given so many years to her business, denying her body the closeness it craved to another person. She was tired of being lonely.
The song they were dancing to ended and instead of pulling away, her dancing partner drew her closer. The feel of his hard, muscular body pressing into her made her pulse start to race. She was probably blushing like mad beneath her mask, not that he could see it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts against the firm wall of his chest.
His jaw flexed as he looked down at her and took a ragged breath. “Come with me, Red,” he said.
There was something different in the way he looked at her now. He wasn’t asking her to come with him to get a drink or bid on a gift basket. No, she knew what he was asking and she was eager to comply. She took the hand he held out to her and let him lead her off the dance floor.
They cut through the crowds and deeper into the club instead of moving to the door.
“Where are we going?” she whispered. She wasn’t very familiar with the club, but it was clear to her that he was as they went down a dark hallway. She felt her nerves increase as they disappeared into the back of the building. She had to tell herself he was looking for privacy, not a good laugh, to keep her feet moving in step behind his.
“I thought you might be interested in shooting a little pool.” He opened a door and they stepped into the dark room.
She felt her body start to relax when she glimpsed the moonlight coming through a window, highlighting the large, oak billiard table in the center of the room. Around the edge were bar-height tables and racks filled with pool cues on the wall. It seemed just like the kind of space where filthy-rich cowboys would sit around, drink a beer or some whiskey and shoot a few games together.
Lauren walked into the room and let her manicured fingers drag along the felt top of the heavy, wooden pool table. She set her purse aside, turned back to face him and leaned against the edge. “Really?” she said with a sly smile that betrayed the butterflies swarming inside of her. “You brought me back here to this dark, private room so we could play...pool?”
The light from the hallway highlighted his amused smile until he shut the door and the heavy blackness of the night hid it away. “Not exactly.”
She could just make out the shape of him as he slipped out of his tuxedo jacket and tossed it over the nearby bar stool. “But I thought perhaps we could play a little game.”
“I’m listening,” she purred, hoping her coy words would cover how nervous she was.
“I was thinking something a little more intimate than billiards. Something where we both can win.”
“Will there still be wood, balls and the occasional scratching involved in your game?”
“God, I hope so,” he said under his breath. “What do you say?”
“It sounds like fun. I’m in. But I have one condition.”
He straightened up and put his hands in his pockets. “And what’s that, Red?”
“The masks stay on and the lights stay off.” She wanted to keep up the mystery for both of them. Her bravado would crumble without it to hide behind. She might be willing to give this man her body, but being in this place again after all these years, she needed to keep a piece of herself protected.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he moved closer to her, hesitating for only a moment before picking her up and lifting her fully onto the pool table. She let out a startled whoop as she landed, reaching for him to steady herself. He was all too eager to pull her close.
“Wow,” she whispered against his throat.
She heard him chuckle softly before he pulled away just a bit. “I hope that’s not the last time you say that tonight.”
Then his lips found hers for the first time and her head started swimming so wildly from the intensity of their kiss that the next few minutes were a dark, pleasurable blur. His mouth never left hers as her beaded gown was pushed up her legs.
“How do you like the game so far?” he rasped, nestling himself between her thighs and cupping her ass with his hands to tug her hips hard against the throbbing erection pressing against his trousers.
Lauren gasped at the feeling of him pressed so intimately against her and then wrapped her legs around his waist to keep him there. “It’s way better than billiards.”
