Page 178 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

She looked at me and tilted her head and frowned a little. The look in her eyes said she recognized me. There was more, but not close enough to the surface for me to decipher. I lifted my eyebrows, confused and a bit hopeful in a treacherous way. Could it be that even knowing who I was, she didn’t really care?

I reached for her again, holding on my hand. “Want to dance some more?”

She smiled, lighting up.

“I would love to,” someone else exclaimed, rushing over and barreling between us, snatching my hand out of the air. Her hand was smooth, her fingers long and tipped with pointed nails, like claws.

“Suzie,” the princess exclaimed.

Suzie. I knew that name, and I knew this blonde bombshell with the cat ears and whiskers painted on her face. She’d been at that coffee shop, that new one I’d gone to with Brian. I grimaced, knowing a fatal error had been made. She’d come to the party on a mission to be my wife and she had found me. No one stood a chance against her.

But dammit, I had to try. The princess—my princess—shrank away even as the seconds passed, fading into the crowd.

“I’m sorry,” I told Suzie. “I was speaking to someone else.”

“Sure, youwere,” Suzie purred. Rather, she tried to purr, but it came out more like she had something stuck in the back of her throat. “But she’s gone. And anyway, she doesn’t know who you are. She can’t appreciate you. I can.”

I looked around, trying to pull away. Suzie dug her claws in. Try as I might, I couldn’t see the princess anymore.

“Hey!” Suzie demanded, tugging on my hand. “I’m trying to talk to you. Forget about her.”

I yanked my hand away. One of her nails scratched me, raised a thin line of blood on my skin. “You’re being very rude,” I snapped. “I’m not sure why I’d want to spend any time with a person like you, so presumptuous you can’t even wait and ask for a dance of your own. You had to steal the rest of hers.”

“If I see something I want, I go for it.” Suzie snatched at my costume.

I ducked away from her, almost knocking into someone standing behind me. “An admirable trait, but you should consider there’s a time and place. Or do you think thieves are right to do what they do?”

“Robin Hood was a thief.”

“Robin Hood served a greater cause. All you’re doing is serving yourself.” I shook my head in disgust and turned my back on her. “I’d appreciate if you would leave me alone.”

“Carter Bryant!” she yelled after me. “There goes Carter Bryant, everybody!”

I swore under my breath. Denied getting things her own way, she would sabotage me. I made a snap decision and, rather than run and draw attention to myself, I faded back into the rest of the crowd while people stopped and looked around for the elusive party host. Too bad for Suzie that my face was still covered.

I left her and the mess she had caused, putting plenty of people between her and myself. I looked all around, trying to catch some glimpse of my princess, my heart thundering in my throat. She was gone. Gone away, chased off by that desperate cat-girl.

Too many people here to find her on my own.

I headed over to where I had last seen Brian and his Mary Jane, a girl I now knew to be called Maggie. “Sorry to interrupt,” I said.

Brian did a doubletake at me and pushed away from the wall. “Hey, what’s going on? You look really upset.”

I shook my head and thrust my fingers through my hair. “I was dancing with a girl and got interrupted.” Suzie didn’t even deserve a proper mention in my retelling. “The girl went off. I can’t find her.”

Brian looked at Mary Jane—Maggie—and then at me. “I can help you look for her, I think. What was she dressed as?”

“Some kind of princess. I’m not sure.” I glanced at Maggie, thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to have another pair of eyes during the search, if she was willing to help. And hadn’t the princess said Maggie liked investigating, or something?

Maggie hardly seemed to notice I was there, all her attention focused upon Brian. She didn’t really appear to be listening either.

Brian gave her another look, his throat constricting as he withheld a sigh. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I need to help my friend for a bit. Want to stick around? I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”

Maggie gave a smirk and tipped her head. “As fun as it would be to stand around and fend off the dozen other Spider-Men while you’re gone, maybe I shouldn’t linger too much longer. It’s getting late.”

Brian nodded. “I understand. But I hope you understand I can’t just let you go like this. Can I have your number?”

I suddenly realized how he was looking at her, his expression very similar to the one he wore when I presented him with a problem needing solved. She had his attention as much as he had hers.

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