My mind goes blank. He laughs huskily as I struggle to answer.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“I do.”
“Then fuck off.” My insult has no effect on him.
“Where’s my graduation present?” He hums curiously. “Don’t I get one from my fiancée?”
“I’m here. You’re still alive. Consider it your gift.”
“Are threats going to be our love language, Rose?” His teeth graze my earlobe. I try pulling away, only for him to bite down and make me hiss. Letting go, he murmurs, “Don’t you want to know where I’m going? I thought fiancées cared about this stuff.”
“The willing ones do.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Toying with a strand of my hair, he rasps, “Especially the way you ran and hid inside the bathroom earlier after ogling me.”
“Not everyone is shameless like you, Nova.”
“Says the girl who reads smut with a straight face in public.”
I slap his hand away and stand to face him. My retort dies on my tongue as I take him in. Still resting his hands on the back of the couch, he straightens slightly. An expensive—Brioni or Ralph Lauren—black tuxedo hugs his frame. Except, he has left the collar of his white dress shirt open to reveal the sexy column of his throat and collarbones.
The only sign he doesn’t like formal attire.
Styled messy black hair falls over his forehead, giving him a roguish look. Cut cheekbones and a clean-shaven jaw complement the shape of his caramel brown eyes.
Nova looks jaw-droppingly ravishing.
A beast of the ball.
His lips twist into a sinful smile. “Want a picture? It’ll last longer.”
His taunt snaps me out of my momentary reverie and I cross my arms to hide my pebbled nipples.
“Feeling cold?” he taunts with a knowing smirk.
“Can’t you let me be in peace for my last night here?”
“No. It goes against my vow.”
I narrow my gaze. “Which is?”
“Drive you as mad as you drive me.”
Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I round the couch to leave this pointless conversation. Before I can walk past him, he captures my wrist and pulls me flush against him.
“Nova!” I wrinkle my nose even as my skin tingles everywhere he touches. “You cannot grab me as and whenever you please. We’re not in public.”
“Consider it practice,” comes his smart-ass reply. “I can’t have you glaring at me every time I touch you in public.”
Using his grip on my wrist, he grasps the other with his free hand and brings them up to the back of his neck so I’m hugging him. Silently telling me to hold on, he lowers his hands to rest on my hips. Like two lovers in an embrace.
What’s so shocking is that I’m not pulling away.
There’s no hiding my hard nipples pressing against his chest. I become lost in his powerful gaze and whisper in a small voice, “What are you doing, Nova?”
“Teaching you how to hug me when eyes are on us. So I’m not the one always pulling you closer.”