Page 83 of Shattered Chords

“What kind of event?” I tried to ignore the heat radiating off him to no avail.

“Engagement party.”

“Do I know this friend of yours?”

“You probably do.” He nodded. A flicker of pain flashed in his eyes, but it was gone just as fast as it appeared. The only reason I noticed it was because he was right in front of me, unabashedly so. His cherry-flavored breath fanned against my cheeks and tickled my nostrils.

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“Frank.”

Understanding surged through me. I’d kept putting off the inevitable, but I’d watched the infamous meltdown video last week before I decided to accept his invitation to this party. It’d left me bereft. The whole thing was just embarrassing, but what made it worse was the fact millions of people found it entertaining. Yes, deep down, I felt sorry for Dante Martinez and I hated myself for it because I’d also—at least once in my life—wanted to give in and try the forbidden.

Try him.

“Are you sure you want me to go with you?” I asked, still slightly unsettled by the invitation.

“Yes, as my date preferably, but you can go as my friend or my plus-one. Whichever option you’re comfortable with.”

I inhaled deeply, my mind racing.

“Before you say no,” Dante whispered, “Ally will have a chance to meet some very interesting and influential people. Isabella Solana will be there. She’s a good connection to have. Frank and Cassy too.”

The meaning of what he was telling me finally registered. It wasn’t just an engagement party. It was an opportunity. “Okay. I’ll go,” I said breathlessly.

Dante dipped his candy into his mouth for a brief moment, then took it out and brushed it along the seam of my lips. My stomach lurched and my head spun. For a second there, I forgot my own name.

Something slick pooled between my legs.Oh no, not while I’m wearing a swimsuit.He and I alone... This was turning into a disaster.

Dante slowly dragged the lollipop from one corner of my mouth to the other, smearing the sugary substance over my lips, and then nudged them open with it. I obeyed. A blend of cherry and something else—something very male and dangerous—burst on my tongue.

Our gazes were locked and our bodies were tight, like two snares. “Not today,” he rasped and gently slid the candy out of my mouth to return it to his.

Then he walked out of the pool house, leaving me turned on and speechless.

Several days later, I sat on the shaded patio of an upscale bakery in Calabasas, the bakery that my mother had been visiting once a month for the past twenty years like clockwork.

“The numbers are up.” She adjusted her glasses and continued to scan the accounting spreadsheet I’d put together specifically for her.

Eloise Rockwell was old-school. She liked paper.

So I humored my mother. Every time we met up for brunch, I brought a hard copy of the compressed profit and loss report.

Just the way she liked it.

I didn’t quite understand why exactly she needed to look at the numbers printed on a piece of paper when she could see the same numbers from her computer any minute of any day, but arguing with her was useless. This stubbornness made me think about Ally and I wondered if my daughter inherited her attitude from her grandmother and not from the man who accidentally conceived her.

Calling Greg a father seemed too far-fetched. He’d taken himself out of the responsibilities of parenthood by assuring that his only form of involvement was the money he sent me every month.

For your daughter, he’d said to me fifteen years ago when she was born.

Notourdaughter.

Yourdaughter.

“Yes, I believe we’ll have our best quarter yet,” I muttered absently, my mind snapping to the present and instantly drifting to Dante’s party. I swore I could still feel the taste of him on my tongue after all this time and all the showers I’d taken and all the times I’d brushed my teeth. It was like he’d imprinted himself onto me with his candy trick.

The memory came back, fresh and unbidden and dirty, and I felt a pang just below my stomach that resonated through my entire body and nearly made my toes curl.

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