Page 3 of King of Temptation

Then again, I was probably hustling like nobody’s business the night he came in.

I have a full scholarship to UNLV so I don’t have to pay tuition, but the rest of my life, including all the costs of training as a dancer, I’ve had to finance on my own and tips is the way I make it happen.

My mom has nothing to spare to help me and I never ask. She’s got her own burdens without taking on mine.

“Sort of…” I say as I look down the hall. Anywhere but at him.

“I remember you.”

He steps closer and I can feel the heat of him, my nipples actually stiffen as I wrap the robe tighter around me again, keeping my arms between us.

What would it be like to have a man like this in my bed? My body pulses with a delicious ache at the idea of it, a feeling I try to tamp down.

I have a confession to make. I’ve only ever slept with one guy and he never actually made me…

I swallow down a lump. “You do?”

Next to me, Mason is whispering to Charlotte through the crack in the door, his hand pressed to the thick wood as though he’d like to break apart the wood with his bare hands just to look at Charlotte’s face, but I can’t attend a word he’s saying. My whole body is focused on Leo.

I close my eyes, my chin titling up and to the side. Why I’m exposing my neck to a man I just called lethal, I don’t know…

“I do.” His hand comes to the wall behind me, the one I just realized I’m leaning against, his thumb brushing the indent of my waist. “And I have to confess, I’m disappointed you don’t remember me.”

There is no point in lying. Tomorrow I’ll leave and then I’ll likely never see Leo again. “I seriously doubt I’ll forget you after today.”

I feel him grin. Don’t even ask me how that’s possible but I do as he shifts closer. “Oh yeah…why is that?”

“You’re…” I search for the right word. Hot as Hades? Tall, dark, and sinister? “Magnetic.”

His hand slides down the wall, his thumb tracing my hip as his hand slides down my body. “Right back at you.”

“Hello,” a female voice calls from the other end of the hall. My eyes snap open. Mason and Leo’s sister, Arabella, is walking toward us with an army of people behind her. “The cavalry has arrived!”

A rack of dresses is at the back of the group, along with several women carrying cases of different shapes and sizes.

We’re all about to get major makeovers. Again.

This is Charlotte’s life now? It’s not without its appeal.

Leo pushes back and regret lances through me as I stand up straight, pasting a smile on my face.

An hour later, my long red hair has been twisted into some amazingly elaborate coif at the back. The dress is the perfect shade to highlight my green eyes, only further accentuated by the subtle shades of eyeliner and shadow.

And the mermaid style dress hugs my dancer’s body like it was custom made for me, though I never gave anyone a single measurement.

And Charlotte…

She’s never looked more beautiful. Draped in white, the strapless princess gown shows off her lush curves and classic beauty.

Her hair is down, one section pulled back with a comb at her right ear, and styled in loose waves that only make her cheekbones look even more classic and her large grey eyes even wider.

I sigh next to Arabella, Charlotte’s other bridesmaid.

Charlotte is perfection.

A spread of food has been laid out in the room as we wait for the ceremony to begin, but I only pick at it. I’m nervous, which is odd. I don’t mind being in front of people, it’s part of being on stage, so I try to determine why I’m feeling so off.

And then I remember. Leo Kincaid. He’s going to see me in this dress. And for once I look like I actually belong in their world.

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