Page 7 of Masked Love

Touché.

Then he leaned in closer to me. So close I could feel the heat from his skin against my face and smell his now familiar spice. “Doyouneed to practice?”

I coughed to make sure I didn’t squeak again and shrugged to play it cool. “Maybe. I mean, it’s been a while. A whole three months since I kissed anyone.”

“I don’t need to know about you kissing other men.”

What did that mean? Why was he being all growly? And why did the blood go straight to my dick?Down, boy.

Before I could respond, a man clapped Xander on the back, dragging his attention away.

Ugh. No. We weresoclose. Close to what? A kiss? No, he wasn’t going to really kiss me, was he? We were just messing around and having fun, right? Right.

I gritted my teethwhen someone pulled my attention away from my handsome young PA. I had honestly been contemplating kissing him. Sure, we were just joking around until he started talking about his last kiss, and then I grew strangely possessive. The last thing I wanted was to imagine Greyson kissing someone else.

Perhaps I should’ve been grateful for the disruption. Kissing him would’ve been a bad idea. What would I look like to the rest of my staff if they found out? I didn’t have a workplace dating policy because I worked them hard, with long hours. It was difficult to date when you worked so much. As long as they were adults and professional about it, I didn’t care.

But when Greyson teased me about practicing kissing, I really wanted to do just that.

“Are you enjoying yourselves?”

I stood straight and focused on the older man and his wife, who were dressed as King Louie the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette. Their costumes were fantastic and realistic, glittering with soft colors and gold thread. They must have cost a fortune.

“We are,” I said, reaching out my hand to shake theirs.

“I’m Mark Copeland from Copeland Finance. And this is my wife, Maddy. We helped sponsor this little shindig.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Xander Hayes from Nomadology. And this is my… partner, Greyson Everett. I also contributed as a sponsor.”

Greyson shook their hands.

“You two are business partners?”

“Ah, no. Partners as in we are… together.” Coming out to strangers was always a risk, but I refused to hide who I was.

“And you two are adorable as Holmes and Watson,” Maddy said.

I smiled. “Thank you.” So far, so good.

“And your costumes are stunning,” Greyson said.

Mark placed his hand under his chin, thinking. “What is Nomadology exactly?”

His wife rested a hand on his arm. “Oh, you’ve heard of them, right? They’re that specialty travel agency.”

“That’s correct,” I said.

The man looked at me with curious dark green eyes. “What’s a specialty travel agency, exactly?”

I reached for Greyson’s hand, threaded our fingers together, and pulled him to my side since he was tucked behind me. “We do specialty travel. Not general arrangements for flights and lodgings. For example, we can arrange for you to climb Mount Everest. Or, if you want to have your own private island for two weeks, we can set that up. Maybe you want to explore a sunken ship. We specialize in unique travel plans.” I shrugged. “It clearly caters to the wealthy, and we are growing quite rapidly.”

“Isn’t that interesting? Do you have a business card? I’ve always wanted to explore the wilds of Africa, mostly go on safari and such.”

I dug into my pocket, pulled out a platinum card case, and handed him a business card. “And that can certainly be arranged.”

“Excellent!”

I chatted with the lovely couple before they moved on to mingle with others. That was why I attended events like this. They were always good for business.

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