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What had he asked me?
“Who taught you to dance?” he asked me again.
“School,” I said before I forgot the question. Maybe it was the champagne. It was affecting me. That was all this was.
He said nothing else, and the song finally ended. Blaise didn’t let me go. Instead, his left hand slid from my back to my hip, where he firmly held me. I watched his throat muscles move as he swallowed hard before his gaze swung toward the table, where I knew Saxon and Trev were waiting on me to escape.
Another song started, and more couples walked onto the dance floor. Blaise’s hand continued to hold on to my hip. Just below my waistline. It felt possessive. Something I shouldn’t want at all, yet I was unable to move away from him.
Did those at our table notice this? Our standing here, his hand on me, as if I belonged to him?
I turned toward them, nervous of the reactions I would see. Although I was doing nothing wrong, it felt as if I were walking a thin line between sanity and danger.
Trev’s eyes met mine, and he gave me a nod. I was sure that meant our exit was almost here. Trev stood up, and I glanced over at Saxon to see what his move was going to be.
He nodded his head toward the door, then mouthed the words,I’ll get you.
There was no time for me to make a decision on what to do next. Blaise made it for me. He eased his grip on my hip, and I started to step back when the heat from his palm pressed firmly against my back once again.
“Come.” The singular word was said as he began moving us off the dance floor. He guided me through the other couples dancing, but not toward our table.
I turned to look back at the others. Saxon was watching us as he spoke to his mother. She didn’t seem to notice Blaise leading me out of the room. I didn’t get to see if anyone else was watching before we were in a wide hallway I didn’t recognize. We hadn’t come into the ballroom this way.
“Where are we going?” I asked, my voice sounding strange to my ears.
Blaise said nothing as his pace increased until we were walking into another room. It was empty, and the only light in the room was the moonlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows.
I could hear my heart beating in my ears. We were alone.
Did I want to be alone with Blaise, or was I frightened? Should I be?
There was no time to figure out what I was feeling exactly. Blaise’s hand left me, and he took several steps away from me before stopping. His back was to me, so I couldn’t see his expression. I could see his shoulders rise and fall as he took a deep breath.
“Trev and Saxon will be looking for me,” I said, needing to hear something other than my heartbeat. “We were planning on escaping.”
“I know,” Blaise replied, then finally turned around to look at me. “And I should have let you go with them.”
I waited for more of an explanation. There had to be a reason we were alone in an unused room. He made a low sound in his chest, then muttered a curse.
“I can’t even blame the dress,” he said with clear frustration.
Then, his gaze scanned down my body, making me feel warm all over. Even my scalp tingled. This was bad. Very bad. I needed to snap out of this, and I was never going to drink alcohol again. Clearly, it made me stupid.
His intense stare locked on my face. I struggled to pull in a breath as I looked back at him.
“Why did you bring me in here?” I asked in a whisper, as if I wasn’t sure I wanted a response. Perhaps I didn’t want him to hear me.
Blaise’s neck flexed, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. “I wasn’t ready to let you go.”
Of all the things I had thought he might say, that was not even in the same ballpark. I had no response to that. I simply stared at him. My face felt flushed, and I hoped he didn’t hear my heart beating erratically, the way I did.
“This is wrong,” he said with a fierceness in his tone, as if I were to blame.
“What is?” I asked, wondering if I truly wanted an answer to that.
Blaise closed the distance between us in three long strides, then stopped just inches from his chest touching mine. “You. Me. Us,” he clipped out sharply.
I wondered if I hadn’t drunk the champagne, would I have reacted differently. I imagined I would have. My temper and defenses seemed to be impaired. The Maddy I knew wouldn’t be standing here, still looking up at him. She’d have never let him bring her in here.
