I’d known it since the moment I’d sat next to her at dinner. Knew it even after she stopped speaking to me. What I felt for her wasn’t something that was going to go away. Ever.
And I’d be damned if I let anyone think for a second that she wasn’t mine.
“Easy,” Iain said as I watched that asshole touch her hip.
In a flash, my temper
flared. It came back angrier than before as I stared at her. As images flooded my brain. Our bodies tangled in my sheets. Her naked pussy under that dress.
Her smile was nervous. I could see it. And I knew exactly why.
Because like she always did, she sensed my gaze.
She didn’t look my way. I doubted she knew where in the crowded room I even was. But she knew I was watching, waiting for him to try it again.
And as soon as he did, I was off.
31
AJ
It wasn’t good to force things.
But I’d tried it.
I’d smiled and flirted. Told myself I like the way this man looked. He was polite and courteous. Interesting. He did his best not to look when I shed my blazer, but I could see in his eyes, in his smile that he liked the way I looked in this dress. Maybe even as much as Adam did.
But probably not.
I’d felt his eyes on me as soon as I’d gone off with Holland, having her introduce me before she got whisked off for work. His attention had been so rapt on me that I’d felt it practically sizzling on my skin, making me so hot that I reasoned it was his fault.
A part of me had decided to keep the blazer on the whole party. To stay covered up since I’d only gotten dressed for Adam.
But then I was burning up. From his stare. From my own anger. So off went the blazer, but somehow, it only made me feel hotter. It made me feel urgency spiking the air. From Adam. From Gavin. He’d been reserved with his flirting before, but once I had all that bare skin showing, he kicked it up a notch.
When he slid his hand along my hip, I actually felt Adam’s fury.
Mine too.
Because it was at that very second that I knew this was pointless. That I felt nothing here. Wanted no part of this man. I wasn’t going to succeed at forcing anything here, which meant I was leading someone on, and even if it was for just ten minutes, I hated that.
I hated this whole situation. That his touch had only made me crave Adam’s.
There was no shortage of things to be pissed about, and I did such a bad job of hiding it that Gavin noticed. Asked if I was okay.
Then he touched my hip again, and I felt my heart leap out of my chest.
Because I knew Adam was coming.
From which direction, I wasn’t sure, so I excused myself. Heart pounding, I angled through the crowd, my heeled feet clacking against the floor as I made my way to the downstairs restroom that Holland had told me about when the line for the regular one was too long.
I was pretty sure it was for Minx employees only, but I didn’t care. I needed somewhere to go to catch my breath and force my thoughts to settle, because they were on a rampage right now, fully and furiously realizing something that I wished I could know with full happiness.
That he was the only one.
That there was no one in the world who could make me feel as good, as whole. As alive. Everything in my heart and my mind pointed toward me being with Adam and nobody else, and all I wanted was to feel the joy of all this without feeling the hurt of his secret as well.
I just wanted to love him without feeling stupid. And lied to.