Page 206 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

I stayed motionless, breathing softly, unable to move for the joy of her lips so gentle and sweet on mine.

Megyn sat back, nibbling on her lip. “How was that?”

I leaned to her and touched my lips to hers, pressing in oh so lightly it must have seemed like butterfly wings. “How was that?” I asked, echoing her question, my lips rubbing over hers.

“Good,” she whispered, hardly more than a breath.

“Good,” I said, letting her know what I felt and that I was happy she had liked the kiss in the only way I could think of. My brain wasn’t exactly working as well as it could be I had no room for thoughts when my mind was so full of her.

Megyn didn’t say anything else.

I pulled away from her and stuck my key in the ignition. Megyn put her seatbelt on and I did the same. That seemed to be the end of our romantic interlude, though I hoped I was incorrect in that assumption. I would rather this be an interlude to the interlude, a time of reprieve where we could both think about what had been done and where to go next.

I found us a parking spot a few blocks away from city hall and parked. “This looks like it’ll be as close as we can get.”

Megyn looked pale. She stared at the people streaming down the sidewalks, heading to and from the party. “I had no idea it was going to be so… lively. What is this, an Carter Bryant party?”

I laughed out loud. “You know what they say. Competition is good for progress.”

Megyn stepped out of the car and I joined her, linking my arm with hers to help combat the cold. We found a gap in the flow of partygoers and hopped onto the sidewalk.

Megyn leaned her head close to mine. “I don’t think you need competition.”

“Oh?” My breath frosted in the air.

“Yeah,” Megyn said, puffs of white drifting from between her glossy red lips. “You’d make progress anyway because that’s just the kind of guy you are.”

“While I’m flattered,” I chuckled, “I wonder. Maybe if I could have, I would stayed as a humble gallery owner.”

“No one forced you to advance. You did that on your own. I wish,” Megyn halted and cried out, voice shrill with alarm. “Carter, your mask!”

I touched my own face. I’d completely forgotten about it—and my plan not to wear it anyway.

“Do we need to go back to the car?”

I shook my head. “No. There’s no reason for me to hide my identity this time.”

“Why?”

I held her arms and smiled at her and kissed her nose, which made a few people surrounding us either cheer or pretend to gag. “I’m not looking for a wife this time. I have found you. It doesn’t matter who I am, because I will be spending the whole night with you.”

“Carter…” Sudden tears shimmered in Megyn’s eyes.

I brushed my thumb over one as it fell, catching it and wiping it away. “Did I do something wrong?” I asked, my chest tight with worry.

Megyn shook her head and took my hand. “No. I’m just happy.”

“Well, don’t cry. Or you’ll make me cry too, and no one wants to see that.”

“I’d pretend not to know you.”

I got us walking again, carving our own path through the crowd. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, it depends on how hard you cried.”

We got up to the front door and headed inside. Right away, I felt a surge of pride that this party wouldn’t be nearly as good as mine. The city government hosted this party and they couldn’t even get live music, choosing instead to pump classic Halloween movie soundtracks through speakers a few years old. I hadn’t ever really cared forA Nightmare Before Christmasand I liked it even less all staticky and distorted.

I doubted anyone could actually hear much of the music, though; I certainly couldn’t. The enclosed, tighter spaces of the city hall magnified the voices of the guests, making it so that everyone had to shout to be heard, which in turn lead to louder shouting.

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