My lips twitched. I shouldn’t feel like smiling, especially since he’d just called me shy and awkward.
“How could you be so sure?” I asked, looking over at him.
His dark eyes roamed over my face, and I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but after a while, he said, “Because we’re in a room full of beautiful women, and the only thing I can think of is when this night will be over, I can have you all to myself. Because despite all the glitz and glamor Gabriel tried to give this place, you still shine the brightest. Why would I ever give you up?”
I was smiling now. Damien traced the curve of my lips with his finger.
“What was it that you said, that you couldn’t be charming?” I asked, because I was completely charmed by him.
“I can’t be charming. I don’t care to be. What I can offer you is the truth, which is exactly what you just got.”
“Damien …”
I didn't know what to say to that. I was rendered speechless. He knew exactly what to say, even without me telling him what I needed.
The urge to tell him I loved him became so strong that it was taking everything in me not to blurt it out loud.
I didn’t want the first time I said it to him to be at a strip club, though, no matter how fancy this one was.
I cleared my throat and looked away.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I said suddenly.
The look in his eyes told me he knew that wasn’t what I was going to say, but thankfully, he let it go.
“Take Leo with you.”
I looked at him questioningly.
He pointed behind me, and sure enough, Leo was walking over to us.
“Don’t you think needing a bodyguard to go to the bathroom is a bit too much?”
“This isn’t negotiable, pet. When it comes to your safety, nothing is a bit too much, so either Leo goes with you or I will personally take you myself, and know this, there is no such thing as privacy when it comes to you and me. So who will it be? Me or Leo?”
That wasn’t much of a choice. “Leo,” I grumbled, standing up. Damien shot me a look, which I ignored. Mikhail grabbed my hand as I walked past him. I paused and looked down at him.
“Bathroom,” I explained.
“Hurry back to me,” was all he said, squeezing my hand briefly before he let me go.
I tried not to make eye contact with anyone as Leo showed me where the bathroom was. I didn’t know any of the people there, but I had a feeling everyone knew who Damien, Mikhail, and Nikolay were, and they were all looking at me, wondering what the hell I was doing with the three of them.
Leo nodded once at me once he checked to make sure the bathroom was empty before walking out.
I quickly did my business and washed my hands. By the time I got out, Leo was waiting for me near the door.
I shot him a small smile.
He offered me a stoic look back.
I quickly looked down. I guess being unemotional was also a part of the job since I had never seen Leo look anything but stoic.
He led me back to the table, but we took a different route. This one was less crowded.
I wondered why he suddenly decided to go this way. I quickened my pace to match his, not wanting to be left behind, especially in a strange place, but stopped when I heard feminine giggles from one of the rooms in the back. Leo stopped with me.
“Miss, we should really get back.”