Page 20 of Seductive Hearts

Just to see if ten years had improved his technique.

And just like that, my thoughts drifted back to his eighteenth birthday…

There he was, leaning against the balustrade with his arms folded on the stone surface. He hadn’t changed out of the charcoal gray slacks and white button-down he’d worn earlier, only now the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He stood against the backdrop of twinkling city lights, and a rush of evening breeze stirred his dark hair. The scent of his cologne drifted my way and woke my body up in the worst way.

God, he was cute.

More than anything, it was the way he stood. There was something tired and almost defeated in his posture. That was what made me different from all the other girls. The fact that I could see past what was on the outside.

Instead of backing away and pretending I didn’t see him there, I decided to take a chance. “Hey, you. What’s on your mind?” I murmured.

The smile he wore once he slowly turned made me tingle to the tips of my toes. He smiled at people he really knew and liked. Not the fake, wide smile he gave most people when he was trying to show off. “There you are,” he said. “I was wondering if I was going to see you tonight.”

Was that true? It would be a shame if it weren’t since my heart was about to burst out of my chest. “Here I am. In my pajamas,” I added with a shaky little laugh. What a disappointment that I had already taken off my makeup and pulled my blonde waves up in a bun.

“You look cute.” He said it so casually, like it was a fact.

Still, I cringed, not exactly how I wanted him to see me. “Cute? Thanks.”

“Like it’s an insult,” he teased with a grin. “You looked very nice tonight before you got changed. You looked beautiful.”

This was it. I was going to fall over the balustrade and drop hundreds of feet to the sidewalk. “You’re drunk,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. What a relief it was dark out, so he couldn’t see the heat flushing my skin.

“Dead sober,” he countered. “I sort of promised to be a good boy tonight. At least during the party.” There was something wicked in his grin, and for the millionth time, I wished I wasn’t three years younger, and he would see me as somebody on his level rather than looking at me like I was a kid.

“Did you have fun?” That was what I really wanted to know. That was what mattered. Whether he enjoyed his party, I wanted him to be happy more than anything.

“Sure. Who wouldn’t? I haven’t even started counting up all the money I got in cards. I might be able to buy myself the Bugatti I’ve had my eye on,” he joked. When I didn’t laugh along with him, his brows knitted together. “Why? Did it not seem like I was having fun?”

“It’s not my job to watch you twenty-four seven.” I rolled my eyes again, and he snickered before I added, “But honestly? I noticed a few times, and you looked sort of distracted. Even bored.”

I shouldn’t have said it. The silence that hung over us made me want to crawl back into the penthouse and pretend the whole conversation never happened. When would I ever learn? It probably weirded him out, thinking I was watching him like some stalker.

When the corners of his mouth lifted, my heart lodged in my throat. “How do you do that?” He moved a little closer, and now my heart was banging wildly against my ribs. I swallowed hard and forced myself to stay where I was rather than running away.

“Do what?” I whispered.

“It’s like you see through me. Everybody else sees one thing, but you see… the truth.” He sighed, then lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. “I was kind of bored. There were a lot of people around I didn’t even know. But I had to pretend and pose for a lot of pictures and shake a lot of hands. It was boring as fuck.”

A laugh burst out of me when he said it like that, and he laughed with me. “But isn’t it nice to know so many people wanted to be here?” I asked.

“Please.” He scoffed and shook his head, taking another step closer. I could almost feel the heat from his body now, and it was driving me insane. “They weren’t here for me. They were here because the powerful Barrett Black invited them.”

“I was here for you.” Dammit. Why did it come out like that? It was the truth, but I sounded so childish.

He didn’t seem to think so. “I know you were because you’re real,” he murmured. He was so close now, close enough to touch, and there was something different in the way he was looking at me. There had to be something wrong. He had to be drunk. Then again, I couldn’t smell it on his breath, and he was breathing right in my face by the time he came to a stop.

“You know something?” he asked. I held my breath when Colton reached out to take a strand of my hair between his fingers once the night breeze teased it free from my bun. “You really did look beautiful tonight. I would’ve asked you for a dance back at the hotel, but I kept losing track of you.”

Imagine that, dancing with him in front of all those people. “That’s okay,” I offered with a shrug. He’s only saying this because you’re like a sister. Do not get too excited.

There was no stopping it. My heart was about to explode, I couldn’t breathe, my legs were shaking, and this was a moment I wanted to exist in forever. When he was looking at me, only me, testing the softness of my hair before tucking it behind my ear, his touch was electric, sending a shiver through me from head to toe.

“What did you get me for my birthday?” It was a whisper meant only for my ears.

“I didn’t get you anything,” I confessed. “It was like a family gift from all of us. I wouldn’t know what to get you, anyway. You have everything.”

His head tipped to the side before his eyes narrowed. “I can think of one thing I didn’t get tonight.”

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