Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I turned to look back at the others. Saxon was watching us as he spoke to his mother. She didn’t seem to notice Blaise leading me out of the room. I didn’t get to see if anyone else was watching before we were in a wide hallway I didn’t recognize. We hadn’t come into the ballroom this way.
“Where are we going?” I asked, my voice sounding strange to my ears.
Blaise said nothing as his pace increased until we were walking into another room. It was empty, and the only light in the room was the moonlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows.
I could hear my heart beating in my ears. We were alone.
Did I want to be alone with Blaise, or was I frightened? Should I be?
There was no time to figure out what I was feeling exactly. Blaise’s hand left me, and he took several steps away from me before stopping. His back was to me, so I couldn’t see his expression. I could see his shoulders rise and fall as he took a deep breath.
“Trev and Saxon will be looking for me,” I said, needing to hear something other than my heartbeat. “We were planning on escaping.”
“I know,” Blaise replied, then finally turned around to look at me. “And I should have let you go with them.”
I waited for more of an explanation. There had to be a reason we were alone in an unused room. He made a low sound in his chest, then muttered a curse.
“I can’t even blame the dress,” he said with clear frustration.
Then, his gaze scanned down my body, making me feel warm all over. Even my scalp tingled. This was bad. Very bad. I needed to snap out of this, and I was never going to drink alcohol again. Clearly, it made me stupid.
His intense stare locked on my face. I struggled to pull in a breath as I looked back at him.
“Why did you bring me in here?” I asked in a whisper, as if I wasn’t sure I wanted a response. Perhaps I didn’t want him to hear me.
Blaise’s neck flexed, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. “I wasn’t ready to let you go.”
Of all the things I had thought he might say, that was not even in the same ballpark. I had no response to that. I simply stared at him. My face felt flushed, and I hoped he didn’t hear my heart beating erratically, the way I did.
“This is wrong,” he said with a fierceness in his tone, as if I were to blame.
“What is?” I asked, wondering if I truly wanted an answer to that.
Blaise closed the distance between us in three long strides, then stopped just inches from his chest touching mine. “You. Me. Us,” he clipped out sharply.
I wondered if I hadn’t drunk the champagne, would I have reacted differently. I imagined I would have. My temper and defenses seemed to be impaired. The Maddy I knew wouldn’t be standing here, still looking up at him. She’d have never let him bring her in here.
Maddy on champagne, however, was not very bright.
“I wasn’t aware there was an us,” I replied. At least I was still honest.
His right hand cupped the side of my face, and he studied me. His gaze finally rested on my mouth. The look in his eyes made me feel things low in my belly and in the region a little further, which I’d never experienced before. I felt hot. As if my skin were on fire.
I should leave this room. Run from this room. But my legs wouldn’t move.
“There isn’t,” was his hoarsely whispered response.
If the door to the room hadn’t opened and the light from the hallway hadn’t poured into the darkness, I was sure I would have said something I’d regret later.
A man cleared his throat, and Blaise didn’t drop his hand from my cheek and step away. Instead, his eyes snapped up to glare at whoever stood behind me.
“It’s Angel,” the deep voice said.
With those words, Blaise’s hand fell away from my face, and he stepped back.
“Who’s with her?” Blaise demanded.
“Huck,” the man replied.
Blaise didn’t look back at me. There were no words for me. No explanation for what had happened in here. He simply headed for the open door. I turned to watch him go, thinking I had misunderstood. He couldn’t just be leaving me. Without saying anything?
“Have Saxon get her,” he said to the man who had interrupted us.
I recognized him from the pool party. One of the rodeo squad. I’d seen him have sex with the red head.
The man gave him a nod, then stepped back to let Blaise leave. I was frozen with confusion—or was it disappointment? The room had turned cold, and I shivered from the chill. There was no fire warming my skin any longer. That moment was gone.