He smiled wickedly. “Looks like it.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Didn’t think I had to.” He winked.
He spun me until I was dizzy and then suddenly my body was pressed to his and I felt the burn of his palm against the small of my back. I was afraid to look in his eyes. Afraid that he might see how breathless I was after dancing for only two minutes.
Guys were always hotter in tuxes. That was just a fact. But when Knight first barged into the pool house, I would have thought he was equally as sexy if he had been dressed as the gardener. The lines of his jaw were sharp and definite. He seemed formidable. Self-assured. He had gorgeous eyes. I didn’t think I could swoon over a stranger, but Knight Corban was a sexy specimen of beautiful masculi
nity.
His lips lowered to my ear. The blood rushed to my cheeks. My pulse raced.
“Think we could ditch Kimble?” he asked.
“Don’t you need to stay a little longer?” I searched his eyes. Damn. Why were they so dark and deep? “Your mother seemed serious about the family obligations.”
“She’s serious about everything,” he answered. Felicia Corban already scared the shit out of me.
“I don’t want to cause any problems. Really.” It was the first time I was allowed out since the pool table incident. It could be my last for a while if I screwed this up.
“I checked all the boxes tonight. I’m done with appearances.”
I nodded. “If you’re sure.”
“Positive.”
“Okay.”
His eyes lingered on my lips before tilting my chin upward. I held my breath. “You are exactly what I was looking for tonight, Kennedy.”
I smiled. “And what was that?”
“A way out.”
I didn’t think it was possible to shake Kimble. Over the past two weeks I’d tried. I’d climbed out my bedroom window as if I was still a teenager. I found Joseph already waiting for me in the garden. I’d tried to blend in with a crowd of women in the ladies’ room in a shopping boutique, but after thirty minutes Kimble barged in and cleared everyone out.
I didn’t fully believe it until I was sitting next to Knight in the front seat of his sports car and there were no headlights in the rearview mirror. I continued to look behind us.
I exhaled.
“Better?” he asked.
I nodded. “You have no idea.”
“I think I probably do.”
“Oh, right. Must be hard being the royal family of New Orleans.” Did he sense my playful sarcasm? I was terrible at hiding it.
“Are you mocking me?” I saw the sexy smirk on his face.
“Absolutely not,” I giggled.
“Parker and I have ditched bodyguards since we were kids. It takes skill and practice.”
“You say that as if I should be better at it.” He didn’t know how hard it was when there were no distractions. Kimble had laser focus on only one target—me.
He shrugged. “You’re free. That’s what matters.”