Page 27 of The Cinderella Prince

Releasing Tristan, I pulled him in again, our bodies smashing against one another, breaths kicked out of our lungs, eyes locked in a fierce battle of wills as we danced.

I had never been this deeply immersed in anything my entire life. How sterile and droll had my existence been before running into this gorgeous man? As the tunes merged with Mama Viv’s increasingly more dramatic performance, I sank deep into the well of my feelings. And the explosive final chords brought me back invigorated, reborn, and determined. A catharsis of emotions that lasted a whole five minutes, yet it shifted the ground for a lifetime.

“My, my,” Tristan said. “The prince of the dance floor.”

“Let’s keep going,” I said, out of breath and with a thin layer of sweat breaking over my body. “Let’s never stop.”

When Mama Viv yielded to the thundering requests foranother song, Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” raised the hairs on my neck and arms. Now, the mix of wild and quirky took over us and we moved as one, almost like every thought that crossed his mind was beamed into mine instantly. It was like we were the marionettes of the lasers cutting through the artificial smoke, moving whichever way they hit us. Tristan was the perfect counterpart, perfect partner, perfect person to be with when you wanted to feel like you were someone’s entire world. He knew everything. He knew who I was, who my family was, and what my fate would inevitably be, yet he gave all of himself to me as if none of it mattered.

One song passed, and another came. Mama Viv handed over the stage to a score of queens who lip-synced their souls out, smugly standing by the bar and watching as the night progressed and nobody managed to steal her glory. In the whirlwind of colors and flavors and scents, I spotted glimpses of other people. Roman served drinks from behind the bar, and Rafael ran his fingers through Luke’s rich, bright hair. But Tristan and I were inseparable. Nothing could exhaust me. My appetite only grew more ravenous. Every bump, every sweet touch that was gone before I knew it, every glance into his eyes made me want more.

What are you doing to me, you beautiful stranger? I am about to have a terrible life that won’t get any better if I forever remember the things that cannot be.But those voices were distant and small, irrelevant, and said to someone who wasn’t me. They were said to someone who might listen to them.

“Come with me,” I huffed, pullingTristan into my arms, his clothes as sweat-soaked as mine. “Let’s get out of here.” Alternately, I would hold him like this until I felt all of him.

“Are you sure about that?” Tristan asked cheekily.

“Absolutely,” I said. I didn’t let my doubts creep up.

Tristan and I slowed down. His balled fists rested on my pecs, and his forehead touched mine. “Élodie?”

My stomach hollowed. Yes. There was a real world outside this. How would I reconcile the two? “I’ll never belong to her, Tristan. With or without you.”

He pulled his head away and looked into my eyes. His teeth closed around his lower lip, and a smile pulled the corners of his mouth. “No, I don’t think you will,” he said, his eyes glimmering.

“So?” I asked, my hands on his hips, muscles tense as I fought not to pull him in so hard that the impact would unite all our atoms into a single being.

“So,” he said, licking his lips, “take me, then.”

My heart nearly exploded as his words sank into every part of my body, into my very soul. With a new determination, I released his hips and took his hand. If anyone saw us, they didn’t try to stop us from leaving. We moved as one as if we were still dancing, and the crowd parted to let us through.

Whatever came next, I would deal with it. I would fight the fate if I had to. But right now, he was all I could think about.

CHAPTER 9

After the Dance

Tristan

I couldn’t recallanyone holding my hand this tightly. Hardly anyone had ever wanted me so badly. We hurried into the night, Cedric leading the way, leaving a trail of sweet and spicy scent that I could follow anywhere had he not held my hand.

“Where are we going?” I asked, moving as if in a dream, as if leaping from one place to the next, with everything in between blurring.

“The Henriette,” Cedric replied without hesitating. He was on a mission. He moved with a purpose. And with the way he had given himself to the beat of the music, he was more alive than I had ever seen so before. “I want to show you something.”

A fine layer of perspiration had covered me on the dance floor, and the stuffy air of an August night that was ripe for a rainstorm didn’t help, either. Whatever he wanted to show me, it would hopefully follow a good, cold shower.I didn’t doubt His Royal Highness had a little en suite in his apartment at the Henriette.

The hotel was only a few intersections away, but I stopped abruptly somewhere between Neon Nights and the Henriette. The street lamps gave off their orange lights, setting Cedric’s light golden hair aflame. “Cedric,” I said softly, my chest trembling. Something tugged my heart toward him, but I needed this out of the way. I needed it settled before letting myself leap and fly. “Wait.”

He stopped in the very next instant, our arms stretched as far as they would go, hands still locked together. Cedric took a long step back, his grip on me tighter. Even without words, I believed his intentions were purely good for us both. Still…

“I like you,” I said, wild, misplaced laughter welling in me, barely held down by the little reason left in my head. “I really do.”

His face lit up, eyes wide and so impossibly blue that the orange lights did nothing to affect them. “I like you, too,” he said. As his lips stretched into a gentle smile, devastating dimples appeared on his cheeks. “It’s the last thing that should have happened, but you…” He lifted his shoulder into a small shrug. “You’re the best surprise that happened to me.”

My hand tightened around his as I stepped closer. Every bit of me wanted to put my head on his shoulder and feel the same togetherness that I had felt while dancing. I resisted it. “I’ve done this before,” I said. “This flirting, chasing, hooking up.”

Cedric pulled on a fake-surprised expression. “You’re saying you’re not…a virgin? Gasp.”

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