Page 128 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

“Completely,” Nick confirmed bluntly.

“What? But I was so sure—-” Fawn’s voice trailed off as the elevator chimed upon reaching its destination. The doors slowly slid open, revealing a ballroom decorated in crystals and black silk.

And just like that, she was back in the prince’s world.

Men, women, the guests, and even the servers – everyone around them glittered, their faces and bodies painted with golden streaks coming from the ballroom’s incandescent lighting. It was like the sun had been seduced into an evening of darkness, and of course the only one that could have made it happen was—-

Across a ballroom that had hundreds of people, what should have been impossible happened.

Brown eyes met green.

Her gaze swept over him in a rush, Fawn wanting to absorb every little thing about him.He looked so, so beautiful-—

Formal pants that hinted of the impressive strength of his long, muscular legs—-

The dress shirt that molded perfectly to his powerful chest—-

The black tux that accentuated the impressive breadth of his shoulders—-

The black silk bowtie that underlined his innate sophistication and grace—-

When her gaze met his again, she realized that he, too, had been studying her at the same time.

The prince’s jaw clenched at the effort it took to smile and converse with his guests while his chest threatened to explode. Too many goddamn emotions crowding a heart that was supposed to be empty and invincible—-

What the fuck was she doing here with his friends?

He didn’t want to stare at her but he couldn’t stop himself.

She might not be the most beautiful girl in the room, but for him -—

She was the only girl in the world that he could imagine staring at forever.

Studying her from bottom to top, he took note of her glittering heels and the way it made her look like Cinderella coming to the fucking ball—-

And it only got worse from there.

Her shimmering white gown fell just above her shapely ankles, proving that a girl could be sexy as hell without showing any skin, while the gown’s sweetheart neckline clung to her generous bosom and bared her creamy white shoulders to view.

This was the fucking worst,the prince thought grimly.

The kind of worst that made his cock throb in powerful need, forcing the prince to shift restlessly on his feet, hoping like hell that the enormous bulge behind his pants would pass unnoticed.

When their gazes met for the third time—-

Prince.She ached to call him. And she couldn’t help calling out to him, in her mind, the only way she was allowed to.

Prince.

The prince smiled, almost as if he had heard her, almost like he cared.

But then that was all he could give, and a second later, the prince was turning his back on her, his arm going around the waist of the woman beside him.

Fawn wanted to throw up.

“I n-need to go to the restroom,” she managed to say before turning around to run away.

Nathan’s face became grim. “I’ll go after her.”

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