The Temptation (Filthy Rich Americans 5)

His mouth traced a line down the curve of my neck, drawing a shiver. “I should warn you though. I don’t have the best willpower.”

“I don’t either,” I admitted. Had my shiver made him want to hold me steady? His hands settled on my waist while his lips continued to tease against the side of my throat. God, it felt so good. “Maybe we could work on it together.”

He chuckled wickedly. “All right.”

Outwardly, nothing between us had changed, but excited energy bounced inside me. Like with Jillian, what had started out as a lie was now becoming real. He’d said the next person he dated would be his choice, who he wanted . . . and that person was me.

My tone was sly as I drew back enough to look at him but stayed in his embrace. “Should we start tomorrow?” I pressed my hand on his chest, covering his rapidly beating heart. “Or right now?”

He didn’t understand what I meant but followed my focus down to my hand and then to the chunky silver watch I wore. It was much too big for my wrist and rested halfway up my forearm. His blue eyes sharpened on the heavy face of the watch, and then his gaze snapped up to mine.

“Is that Leitner’s watch?”

I shrugged. “He was so busy hitting on me, he must have dropped it.”

Vance blinked, and the sinister smile that crawled across his face was so hot, it stole my breath. He was utterly thrilled. “How’d you do it?”

I chuckled, sliding the watch off my wrist. It was so large, I didn’t have to undo the latch on the leather band. “It’s all about directing the person’s focus.”

“Show me.”

I shook my head. “It’s cold out here, and you’ve probably got a table full of people waiting on you. Plus, I need to get this back to Niko.”

“Let me handle that.” He snatched the watch out of my hand and put it in the side pocket of his jacket. Then his tone thickened, sounding lush. “Show me what you’re good at, Emery,” he brushed a lock of hair back out of my eyes so he could study me better, “and I’ll do the same.”

In the moonlight, his cheeks were more pronounced. He reminded me of the sexy, mysterious man in movies who always turned out to be the bad guy.

“Deal?” he asked.

A voice reminded me that Hales didn’t make deals unless they were benefiting from them, but I was too enamored with him to care.

“Deal.”

TEN

EMERY

Vance stood opposite me in the sitting room still wearing the clothes he’d been in all evening. He looked relaxed and comfortable—like he preferred to hang out in his blue suit rather than wear anything else tonight.

It was good. Not only did it make demonstrating easier, but he looked so incredibly handsome like that. Powerful and successful. I took a step closer, invading his space, causing him to evaluate me with suspicion.

“As I come closer,” I said, “your awareness of me goes up. But that’s okay because I have control over where you’re—”

Abruptly, I stumbled forward, my hands flying out to brace myself on his chest and stop me from falling into him. I glared down at the rug I’d just tripped over, and my face heated.

“Sorry,” I whispered, my tone full of embarrassment.

I stared up at him with wide eyes, seeing the concern there, but I was fine. When I slid my hands up around his shoulders, his went down to my hips to hold on to me. It allowed us both a moment to catch our breath and adjust to our new proximity. I could smell his enticing cologne and feel the wall of toned muscle hidden beneath his shirt. If I wanted to, it’d be easy to kiss him.

But I reluctantly straightened to extract myself from his hold.

This meant I could close my hand over the top of his watch and slide my pinky finger under the band at the clasp. It was easy to flick it open.

“Anyway,” I said, “now that my hand is on you, you might be wondering how I’m going to take your watch off without you noticing. What you don’t realize is I’ve already stolen your wallet.”

He froze. “What?”

“Check your inside pocket. Is it still there?”

He looked down at his suit jacket, using one hand to pull it open and the other to reach inside the interior pocket, causing him to pull free from my grasp. And as his wrist left, the watch stayed in my hold.

“How?” He stared in disbelief at his empty pocket.

He was so distracted he didn’t notice my hands moving to hide my score in the folds of my dress. When his accusatory gaze snapped to mine, I smiled and let it sit for a single beat before I held up his wallet and gave it a victorious shake.