Page 63 of Cage of Thorns and Blood

I move through the crowd with Matteo, heading toward the table with him. I make sure that there are plenty of eyes on us as he holds out my chair for me. I flick my hair and put on a display a fucking peacock would be proud of, and then I sit. I sip at the champagne and try to quell my rebelling stomach.

After a few moments of making small talk with Matteo and a man to my right, I look up and make a small sound of surprise.

“Is there a problem?” Matteo leans in.

“No, not at all. I’ve spotted an old girlfriend whom I haven’t spoken to in years. Will you excuse me for five minutes?”

His face tightens, the control freak, but he nods.

“Thank you, darling,” I say. “It might be ten minutes; of course, you know what girls are like when they get together.”

Before he can tell me that no, he categorically does not know what girls are like when they get together, I turn and walk away from him.

I head into the foyer, glancing at my Cartier watch, thankful that I'm still five minutes early for my meeting.

Now I just have to hope that Matteo gets side-tracked in the conversation and doesn't come looking for me.

I grab another glass of champagne from one of the trays and stand nervously in the entranceway waiting for the arrival of my second date.

David enters the foyer exactly three minutes early. I'd forgotten what an arrestingly handsome man he is. He eclipses every other man in this place, except for one. That dark haired, devilish Romeo, who will always be the catnip to my Juliet.

Still, David is a very good second best. I thank fate for him chatting me up that evening in the mall when I was getting ready for a date with Matteo.

“You look wonderful,” David says smoothly. Then he takes hold of my hand and kisses the back of it as if we are characters in a historical romance novel.

This is going to be the trickiest part of my plan. The part where I need to get David to go with me and check out the auction items on the stage.

I need him to play hooky with me while everybody else eats their meal, as if we're being naughty little children at school. If I can't get him onto that stage, then I can still execute my plan, but it won't be anywhere near as dramatic. Dramatic is what I want. I don't care if I make myself look like the biggest slut in the Western Hemisphere, so long as I cuckold Matteo Mancini in public, then my work here is done.

I grab a glass of champagne and hand it to David.

“Do you know what you're bidding on?” I ask.

“I know a few things I'd like to bid on, but it's difficult to know how much to keep in reserve for those mystery items.”

Oh Lord, it's as if the fates are aligned for me. That sentence plays right into my hands. “Hey,” I say, with a very seductive smile. “How about we are a bit naughty?”

“How?” His brows raise as he looks down at me.

“Why don't we go and take a look?” I jerk my head toward the hallway that leads to the back entrance to the stage. “We could sneak up on that stage and take a little peek at what those secret auction items are.”

“Yeah, right.” He laughs. “If we get caught, they'll think we’re stealing them.”

“That would be a ridiculous thing for them to assume. We could probably buy the whole of the items on sale tonight outright between us.” I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow gently. “Come on; where's your sense of fun? Where is the man who was so audacious in the shopping mall? I like to live a little.” I lick my lips and stick my tits out.

He watches me for a long moment, and I can see the indecision play out on his features. I bend forward a little as if adjusting my dress and let him get an eye full of cleavage. I look back at him and part my lips as I tap the champagne glass against them. The second the right side of his mouth twitches up in a sexy smirk, I know I have won.

“Well, aren't you the naughty girl?” he asks.

“Oh, you don't know the half of it.” I glance slowly down the long length of his body. “Want to come and explore with me, cowboy?”

He downs the rest of his champagne in one smooth motion and places the glass on one of the trays. “Come on then.” He takes my hand and leads me down the hallway.

“There are some restrooms back here,” I say. “If anyone asks us anything, we can say that's where we're headed.”

“Already scoped the place out I see.” His brows pop up.

I simply nod and don't tell him that indeed I've scoped the place out online and looked at all the plans I could find of the building. Or that I looked at pictures of last year's event, so I could see exactly how the auction worked. Oh no, he would think I was crazy. In fact, I am crazy, because this is not how a sane woman behaves.

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