I just nod and go to make my way past him, hoping Calder will say something. Anything. But he doesn’t. I hurry down the stairs and into the house. They lead right to the kitchen. I bypass the caterers as they hurriedly work in the kitchen, putting together trays of food and glasses of wine and champagne. I go straight to my bedroom.
After putting my violin away, I flop back on my bed and listen to the sounds of the party outside my room, wondering if Calder is out there now or if he’s still on the balcony with my father. Had he caught us kissing? I don’t think he did but I can’t be sure.
That kiss. I’ve never felt anything like it in my life.
I wonder if all kisses are like that. I try to think about the time Mark from university tried to kiss me. I’d turned my head right before and got an awkward kiss on the cheek. He just laughed it off. I didn’t get any kind of fluttery feeling with that kiss. Not compared to what I’d just felt on the balcony. Almost like the world had stopped for a moment.
I should have kissed him back. Will this be one of those moments I look back at and always wonder about? But even greater than my regret is my curiosity about Sidney. Her name keeps floating around in the back of my mind.
I sit up and slide my heels back on before going over to the mirror. I pick up some lip gloss and slick a little on. I wonder what I tasted like to him, if I’d left a taste in his mouth like he’d done to me.
Dropping the gloss back down onto the vanity, I try to tame my hair. The wind had gotten a hold of it and it looks pretty wild. Maybe it’s wrong to want to try and sneak another kiss from someone my father works for, but I’ve never wanted anything like this before. Maybe it’s time to push some of my shyness away.
Would he even want to kiss me again? His cold indifference after the kiss makes me feel unsure. Did he feel what I felt, or is he one who kisses every girl he sees. I know a lot of men in New York get around. Some of my father’s friends have been marred a number of times and the whispers of mistresses are always around.
The woman’s name pops in my head again. Is she his wife? The thought makes my stomach cramp. I should have looked for a ring. I still can.
I slip from my room and make my way back to the kitchen, picking up a glass of champagne and drinking it down before grabbing another and doing the same thing. I’ve maybe had a sip of wine or two in my life. In England, where I go to university, you can drink at eighteen, but I’ve never felt the draw. But maybe a little liquid courage could help a girl out.
Chapter Two
Calder
I watch her go, the sound of her music still playing in my head, the feel of her lips still on mine. I don’t know what to do. I have this overwhelming urge to follow her and push her against the nearest wall. Jesus. What’s happening to me? It feels like I’m boiling inside and that curvy little kitten is the only thing that can soothe the ache.
Her long dark hair and gorgeous green eyes have me in a trance. I want to knot my fingers in her hair and see her eyes light up with desire. I want to have her under me while I thrust into her little body.
My lips are still tingling from where I devoured her. To call it a kiss wouldn’t do it justice. No, that was a claiming. I took her and marked her as mine, and all I want to do is finish marking her in the most animalistic way possible.
“Having a good time?”
Bill’s words shake my attention away from Felicity, and I reluctantly pull my eyes from the doorway she disappeared through.
“Yes, thank you,” I answer as politely as I can with all the other questions screaming in my head. Where did she go? Where has she been? Will you know if I pull her into a dark corner and have my way with her?
“They grow up so fast. I can’t believe she’s in college. It feels like yesterday I was walking her to kindergarten.”
I breathe a sigh of relief to find out she’s over eighteen. I had heard he had a daughter in college, but for a second there I had a moment of panic. I was too far gone and too blinded by lust to stop myself. If she hadn’t been legal, I still don’t know that I could stop myself.