“Will you be getting your dick out?” She tilted her head, amused.
“Are we talking literally or metaphorically?”
She shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.”
Daniel’s eyes caught hers. For a moment it was only the two of them. Everything else faded away. “I’ll bid on something appropriately expensive and completely useless,” he murmured, his gaze unwavering. “And probably never actually use whatever it is.”
“How boring.”
“It really is. Shall we go home and play more poker instead?”
Becca grinned. “I think you’ll save money by staying.”
His eyes crinkled. He leaned to brush his lips against her shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine. “Touché.”
As soon as the auction was over, Becca excused herself to go to the bathroom. Daniel watched as she walked across the ballroom, admiring the proud way she held her shoulders, her dark hair tumbling around her creamy skin. Her dress looked almost luminescent – the bodice would be scandalous if it wasn’t for the hundreds of pearls stitched in patterns across the mesh, but every now and then the pattern allowed for a bare patch that revealed her body beneath.
She was beautiful. He ran his finger around the rim of his glass, exhaling slowly through his nose. He’d had to curl his hands into fists on the drive over to stop himself from touching her. In a few minutes they’d be dancing, and he’d have no choice.
He feared for both of their sanities.
“She’s delicious,” Julia said, leaning in with a smile. “I love her.”
“I thought you might.” He bit down a smile.
“Did you see the way people looked at her as she walked past. The whole room is buzzing. They want to know who this woman is that captured the ice king’s heart.”
“No they don’t,” he said softly. “They all know I don’t have a heart.”
Julia sighed. “They might think that, but I know better. I once saw you hold a bird with a broken wing for hours, tears in your eyes.”
“I was seven years old. I was probably crying because I wanted to play on my Gameboy.”
She tipped her head to the side, giving him a speculative look. “You don’t like being vulnerable, do you?”
He turned to give her his full attention. Julia had been a part of his life since he was a baby, thanks to her friendship with his mother. And like Eliana, she was predisposed to think the best of him.
“I find that people like to project their feelings onto me. You want me to be kind, so I’m kind. You want me to love animals, so you remember that bird I nursed, rather than the fact I just ate a chicken breast, which also comes from a bird.”
“To be fair, you didn’t eat it.” Julia smiled. “None of us did.”
“A good point. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
“Maybe I just want you to be happy. The way your mother does.” Julia shot a look at Eliana, who was talking with the Richardsons.
“And you think I can only be happy if I throw myself at Becca’s feet?”
Julia poured herself a glass of wine, lifting it to her lips. “I think she’s the first woman I’ve ever seen who gives you as good as she gets.”
“So I can only be happy if I date somebody who’s as much of an asshole as me?”
Julia laughed. “Maybe.”
Daniel leaned toward her. “Well unfortunately, Becca’s not an asshole. She’s a good person. Wants to make everybody happy, even when it’s to her own detriment. So your hypothesis fails.”
“Maybe she makes you happy by challenging you.”
Daniel blinked. For a moment he couldn’t think of anything to say. Could Julia be right?