“Santiago and Katarina are coming.” Sinclair spoke in his normal muted tones and though everyone could hear him and see us, I knew he was absorbed by me. “Do you want to go out with them?”
“Dancing?”
His eyebrows rose over twinkling eyes. “You like to dance?”
I shrugged, thinking about our first night together, when we had moved sinuously across the dance floor. “I’d like to dance with you.”
His arms tightened around me before he loosened his hold. I slid down his body, feeling his arousal press against my stomach when I finally landed on my feet. He was still staring at me with the small smile I was coming to think was just for me.
Cage coughed loudly and took a long chug from the open champagne bottle in his hand. “Are you sure you want to go out? We can get out of here if you want to,” his eyebrows waggled, “stay in to celebrate. In fact, if you really beg, I’ll stay for that party too.”
Candy dug an elbow into his ribs. “You’re such a child.”
“Prude.”
“Villain.”
I smiled at their exchange, still looking up at Sinclair. His face was relaxed, his hands loosely clasped around my waist. I caught Richard’s eye over Sinclair’s shoulder and watched him nod his approval, lifting the flute in a silent cheers.
“Cage is right,” I murmured, rolling onto my tiptoes into order to speak against the corner of his jaw. “We did have other plans for tonight.”
He groaned, his hands flexing on my hips. “Don’t tempt me, minx.” He leaned down, running his tongue along the delicate shell of my ear. “I could take you right now, in front of all these people and you wouldn’t say no, would you?”
A shudder wracked my spine and his dark chuckle was warm in my ear. I shoved him away playfully and battled with my blush.
“Sinclair,” a feminine voice snapped.
I turned to see Margot standing in the open door to the suite, momentarily distracted by how lovely she was in her vivid green dress with her silky blonde hair gleaming. She was staring at us with haughty indignation, as if I was some whore who had lured Sinclair to the dark side.
He tensed but his voice was cool when he addressed her, “Yes, Margot, no one will force you to go if you would rather stay here. Alone.”
She bristled and took a few steps into the room, oblivious to the ominous silence that had descended as everyone raptly watched the exchange.
“I know you better than this,” she said, waving her hand disdainfully in my direction. “You don’t do messy. Cut her off now, before she deludes herself into thinking this is anything more than a holiday affair.”
Each word struck me in the chest like a poisoned dart. I took a step back, right into Sinclair, who clamped an arm around my waist.
My skin burned with shame but when I tried to wriggle free, he leaned down to growl, “Stop it.”
“Stop being such an Ice Queen. Can’t you see he’s happy?” Candy said, her teeth bared.
Margot raised one pale brow and looked me over, cataloguing everything from the rubber flip-flops at my feet to the volume of my humidity infused hair.
“She leaves tomorrow. Can’t you see the consequences?”
“Enough.” His voice cracked like a whip. “You will not ruin the night for everyone, M. Is that understood?”
Her throat worked as she swallowed and her eyes were wide as she tried to silently a
ppeal to his logical side but I could tell by the weight of his arm across my stomach that he wouldn’t yield.
Strangely, I felt badly for Margot. Even though I hated to think about it, she was right. Even if I made Sinclair happy now, was it worth the guilt he would feel returning home to his girlfriend? I wasn’t so sure.
I placed a hand on his arm and gently removed it, deciding to give them a minute to speak without the awkwardness of my presence.
“Come on, Candy, help me pick out what to wear?”
I extended my hand to her and smiled when she happily interlocked out fingers, shooting a withering glance at Margot as she did so.