Page 26 of Delilah In Discretion

I felt a presence behind me as her speech finished, and I looked over my shoulder as they came around to speak to us.

“Mr. Russel, Mrs. Russel, such a pleasure to see you,” Luca said and turned to look at me as a smile came to his face. “I came over to see if I could steal Delilah away for a moment.”

My father immediately shook his head as he spoke. “I don’t think you—”

Calvin cut him off with a chuckle. “Killian, let them have fun. It wouldn’t be right to bore them the rest of the night.”

Before I even had a chance to enter my input, I was slowly pulled away by Luca.

I looked over to him as he led me to the dance floor.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked him furiously, and he chuckled as he placed his hands around my waist. I kept mine by my sides, discreetly trying to push himaway, fully aware that my father was watching us closely. Luca pulled me closer, his grip firm but not painful. He leaned in, his breath warm against my ear.

“You better behave, doll. I don’t like disobedient little girls.”

I scoffed as I narrowed my eyes at him. “And who the hell do you think you are? You don’t own me,” I whispered back, and he bit his lip. The grip he had on me grew slightly tighter, and I flinched. He loosened it once he noticed and slowly started to sway with me.

“Dance with me, love. That’s all I wanted in the first place.”

I groaned, knowing full well that I wasn’t going to get my way, and complied by dancing with him.

“You get one dance,” I muttered, accepting his hand, and he smirked.

“You’re cute.”

A blush came to my face, and he stared down at me.

“You still never answered my question,” he began. “About your relationship with Archer.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “We don’t have one... He’s just been Archer,” I said in the best way I could, and he nodded.

“He acts differently around you.”

“You think?” I asked and his jaw clenched.

“It’s quite obvious… however—” he began, and my breath hitched as hand left mine and rested under my chin. His thumb caressed my skin, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. I internally groaned, cursing myself for reacting to his touch despite everything he’s done.

God, I must be some kind of masochist to be reacting to this man in any way after how he’s treated me.

“I’m more interested in how you see him.”

“There’s nothing between us,” I said for the hundredth time, and Luca’s eyes darkened as he looked me up and down.

“I genuinely want to see how long you can keep up that pretense,” he muttered, and I pushed his hand away as the music died down. He pulled away from me after a moment and I decided to take my leave.

Instead of going to my table, I made a trip out of the banquet hall to clear my mind. As I entered a small room, I walked to the balcony and leaned against the rail in thought.

Things were so much simpler before coming back to the academy, before Luca, before this fucked-up system. Things were much simpler withhim.For the last fifteen years, I’ve been able to handle Archer.

I ignored his aggressiveness, tolerated his possessiveness, and learned to deal with a boy who made me despise him. And as much as I wanted to forget about him, I couldn’t.

Instead of indulging in the expensive appetizers that were imported from overseas and made my mouth water, I was here thinking about the similarities and differences between him and Luca.

“Miss,” I heard behind me, and looked over my shoulder to see it was one of the security guards.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but your father has been looking for you.”

I nodded. “Please let him know I’ll be out in a moment.”

---