Page 97 of Siren's Game

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

His hand comes to a stop when it can't go any higher, and his thumb starts a slow stroking movement on the sensitive skin on the inside of my thigh.

I want to press my legs close, but it wouldn't matter. I'd only trap his hand between my thighs.

I can’t believe he’s doing this in a room full of people. Scratch that, I can’t believe he’s doing this at one of his goddamn movie premieres.

"Watch. The. Movie."

I squirm under his touch, but his hand doesn't move any further up.

If he wanted me to pay attention to his movie, that's definitely backfiring. I don't give a flying fuck about the movie anymore.

I give a damn about his hand on my thigh, the way his other hand plays with my fingers, and the way he stops his thumb from moving when I start squirming under his touch, only resuming when I sit still.

"You're playing an unfair game, Asher," I hiss, and he lifts my hand to press his lips against my palm.

"Nope, no idea what you're talking about."

Finally, after two agonizing hours that leave me horny as hell, the movie ends. I want to jump up and pull Asher out of the theatre with me, but in my state, I definitely don't want any attention on me.

And when finally, everyone gets up to leave, I slip my feet back into my heels but stay seated, my lips pursed in a pout.

"Not so urgent anymore?" Asher asks teasingly and swipes my hair over my shoulder to press a kiss onto it. "What a shame. I have a lot planned for tonight."

"Oh, it's urgent," I tell him and glance around, hoping nobody is listening to us. "But I don't trust my legs yet with these heels."

"Want me to carry you?"

The thought is tempting. Really fucking tempting. Too tempting for public, so I shake my head.

"Just give me a few more minutes. And take your hand off." I pull it off my thigh with a chuckle and drape my dress back into place, handing him his jacket.

Note to myself, maybe don't wear a risky dress like this again for a movie screening. It gives Asher dumb ideas.

"Can't wait to get you out of this," he says with his hoarse, sultry voice. “Or maybe I won’t get you out of this.” I put my hand over his mouth to stop him from talking me into an even hornier state.

He winks at me and plays with one of the decorative sleeves draped over my upper arm, his tongue darting out to tickle my palm.

"You're insufferable, you know that?" I lower my hand and shake my head at him.

He's an idiot, but he'smyidiot. And even though I act annoyed, I wouldn’t trade him for the world.

"I know." And the smile he shoots me tells me all I need to know. "But I'm very good at occupying your thoughts. And I have the whole night to distract you from that damned meeting tomorrow." He leans in and pulls my earlobe between his lips, taking great care to avoid my fancy earrings. His breath on my neck sends goosebumps all over my skin and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath.

"We should go."

True to his word, I don't think about the meeting at all until the next morning when I need to get ready for it. And then my thoughts circle around it with not a damned chance of anything else breaking through.

I pour coffee into my cereal, which actually didn't taste that bad, and I almost put on two different shoes until Asher corrects me. Then I almost jump into the wrong car.

And then there's a hazy timeframe and suddenly Millie and I are sitting at a conference table in a stuffy, grey room with our lawyers speaking legalese that goes way over our heads. I think ours are arguing that there are points in the contract they haven't fulfilled, especially in regards to security, but apparently they also had to provide more transparent statements on our licensing income, which they apparently can't provide.

Which would mean we could break our contract without any repercussions. We wouldn’t even have to pay a dime. It sounds too good to be true.

Starlet Sounds lawyers step out for a moment to discuss, and for the first time that morning, I feel like I can breathe.

"Is that good?" I ask our lawyers and feel Millie squeezing my hand.

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