Page 30 of Victor's Lethal Desire
"Let him through."
The first guard unhooks the rope without a word.
I step into the inner circle now, the whiskey still in my hand. I don't look at the gambling tables, politicians, the oligarch, or even Dimitri.
All I can see is her.
My mind is racing, a hundred different scenarios colliding at once. I assumed she'd be here. You could say I even planned for it. But seeing her in the flesh, draped in a dress like that, moving through the room like that?
No, this is different.
The clash of thoughts twists something dark and primal in my chest. The line between fighting her and fucking her blurs into something unrecognizable.
I lean against a marble column as I watch her. After a few minutes, I can tell the conversation is ending.
He pulls her into a brief, possessive embrace, his arm wrapping around her waist.
My jaw tightens.
I can’t wait to kill that bastard.
She steps back, offering him a polite nod before turning and cutting through the crowd.
I spring around the column to the other side and watch as she moves to the bar, orders something I can't hear, and waits.
She takes a few sips, and after a few minutes pass, she moves again.
And this time, so do I.
I set my whiskey down on a nearby table and slip between guests, keeping her blonde hair in sight as it weaves through the crowd. She crosses the dance floor where a string quartet starts to play something slow and elegant, the kind of music that makes people lean closer, touch longer.
Everything in my brain is screaming that what I'm about to do is a bad idea.
But I can't stop myself.
I come up behind her on the crowded floor, reaching out to grip her waist.
She turns, startled, her body tensing under my hands.
I pull her close, spinning her into me before she can react.
"Funny to find you here," I say, looking down into those cold blue eyes.
She glances around quickly, her face tightening, before looking back at me.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asks, trying to pull away.
I grip her arm and bring her back, the music giving me the perfect excuse to press our bodies together as I raise her arm up and run my hand down it. Like a slow seductive move from a highly trained dancer; however, the only thing I am highly trained in is killing and the only thing I’m highly focused on, is her.
"Come now. Play nice." I smile, letting my thumb brush the bare skin of her lower back. "Don't want to draw the attention of security."
She gives me a short, sharp laugh as her body relaxes slightly and her arm comes down and wraps around my shoulder.
"I suppose we can't kill each other in front of all these people," she says, leaning into me a bit more. Her hands clasp together behind my neck, and she squeezes the sides of my neck lightly with her forearms, just enough to remind me she could do something if she wanted to. "Though don't test me."
I smile wider. "That's the spirit."
I grip her tighter, pulling her flush against me as we begin to move.
