Page 232 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

Sliding out of Tiger’s arms, Sydney shifted to the edge of the bed, moving carefully so that her progress wouldn’t displace the mattress and disturb the sleeping man.

Get dressed,she told herself.

But that was harder to do than it sounded because her clothes were scattered haphazardly across the carpet like some confessional art installation.

‘What are you doing?’

She froze.

Tiger was sitting up in bed, looking at her with sleepy eyes. Her gaze moved automatically to his gym-hard abs and then she remembered that she was naked. Which maybe explained why his eyes were looking a lot less sleepy.

‘I thought you might want some space.’

‘Don’t you want to stay?’

She hesitated. He had told her the truth last night. But she was not brave like him, so this was as much of her truth as she was ever going to share. ‘Yes, but I didn’t know whether you would want that. I thought you might be regretting—’

‘I’m not.’ He shifted forward, his forehead creasing. ‘Are you?’

His face didn’t alter, but after last night she knew what it would have cost him to ask that, to admit a need of any kind, even just physical.

She shook her head. ‘Not at all.’

The air in the room shifted, softening as if an unseen tension had lifted. ‘So will you stay?’

He was watching her, waiting, she realised, for her to reply, to make her choice.

Her choice. The words fizzed on her tongue like sherbet. He was letting her choose, but he was also letting her know that he had no regrets. That he had wanted her and still wanted her, and knowing that made it easy for her to make her choice. To do what she wanted. To stay with him.

She nodded slowly and he moved then, kneeling up and holding out his hand.

‘Come back to bed,’ he said hoarsely. The sheet had fallen away from his body and, as if they were being pulled by some force of science or maybe nature, her eyes dropped to the erection standing starkly proud from his mouth-watering body. She felt her abdomen tense and an answering liquid heat between her thighs. He wanted her, and she wanted him. Why make it any more complicated than that?

Taking his hand, she let him pull her back to bed.

They spent most of the rest of the day in bed. Which was wonderful on so many levels, not least because it stopped Sydney panicking about the ball. The regatta had been fine, but it was more a ‘day out’ kind of atmosphere. There had been just so many people and so much noise that she had felt, not invisible, but lost in the crowd.

But the ball would be different. Instead of mingling with a drink in hand and smiling, there was a formal dinner, which meant having to make conversation. And then there was the dress. How was she supposed to carry off a ball gown?

‘What are you worrying about?’

She jolted back to Tiger, nestling closer to his warm, solid body just for a moment before she answered. Just because she could. And because he was so gorgeous, and for the moment, anyway, he was hers.

‘I was thinking about the ball, and the dinner.’ Now she tilted her head back, met his eyes, felt another jolt at the curiosity there because he was listening to what she was saying. ‘I’ve never been to anything like this. I mean, it’s in a palace, for goodness’ sake, and it’s hosted by somebody called the Duke of Bergamo and Brandolini.’

Even just saying that out loud made her feel slightly sick.

Her breath caught as he pulled her towards him so that her breasts and stomach pressed against the honed muscles of his chest and abdomen.

‘A ball is just a party. A palace is just a big house. And all those dukes and duchesses are just people like you and me.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘But I’m not like you. You’re like them. You own an island. And a private jet.’

‘So, take them away. See what’s left. That’s when you realise that deep down people are all the same. Just think of it as a tailgate party with masks and champagne. And I’ll be there with you the whole time, so you don’t need to be nervous.’

As he slid his hand along her cheek and smiled at her, she leant into it, groaning. ‘You make it sound so easy.’ She sounded casual enough, but her heart thudded inside her chest. With each passing minute, she found herself wanting him more. And she knew it was dangerous to think like that. To think that this was about anything more than sex. But that was hard to remember when he smiled like that.

Tiger waited for Sydney to join him downstairs, his fingers clamped around a slim, rectangular leather box.

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