Page 74 of Set In Stone

“I’m definitely ready, although I’m second guessing my choice in shoes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to dance in these things,” she laughed, her bubbly laughter clear despite the loud noise of theclub.

As much as I couldn’t wait to feel Krystina’s hips grinding against me in time to the music, I wasn’t quite ready for dancing. She needed to get her focus off me and Beaumont first. Plus, I wanted to chat with Matteo about the restaurant ratings before I fully acclimated myself to the raucouscrowd.

“Go with Allyson. I’ll join you in abit.”

She smiled and leaned in to plant a chaste kiss on mycheek.

“Are yousure?”

“Absolutely. Just don’t go far. I’ll be watching,” Iwarned.

She laughed again and shook herhead.

“I’m sure you willbe.”

27

krystina

Dancing never felt so good.It freed my mind and body of all my worries. All my troubles. I was lost in the beat, living only for the moment, and enjoying every bit of this unabashed fun with my closest friend. The last time Allyson and I hit the clubs, we were still in college. Being here with her tonight brought back a lot of fond memories, many of which were spent drinking our weight inwine.

After about thirty minutes of hard dancing, I motioned to Allyson that I was going back to the table to grab another drink. She responded with a shimmy and little spin. When I turned, I smacked right into a hard-bodied man that was behind me. I teetered on my stilettos and he caught myarm.

“Hey, there,” he drawled and immediately began to grind against me. His face was slick with sweat causing his hair to plaster to hisforehead.

Ugh, freakinggross!

There was nothing more annoying than an uninvited dance partner. I moved away quickly, but he grabbed me around the waist. His dark eyes leered at me, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle. The guy was giving me a serious case of thecreeps.

“No, I’m sorry,” I said, but quickly realized that my words were drowned out by the sudden uptick of music. I shook my head, but his grip tightened on me and he grinned. His hand moved down, precariously close to the curve of my ass. I tried to shrug away, flashing my left hand, hoping that my engagement ring would hold meaning to this gropingstranger.

If it did, I didn’t get the chance to find out. Alexander was between us in an instant. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what was happening. Alexander looked ready to explode with anger, practically capable of murder, as he seized the man by the shirtfront.

The man looked startled. I would have felt bad for him, but he made the mistake of throwing Alexander a challenging look. He reached up and gripped Alexander’s wrist and attempted to loosen the hold. Alexander merely glanced down, as if there were nothing more than a fly on his arm. He pulled the man closer, their noses barely an inchapart.

“Keep your fucking hands to yourself!” heroared.

Alexander’s other hand was balled into a fist. I thought he might hit the guy. I should have intervened, but it was like I was frozen, completely rooted to the spot as the scene rapidly unfolded. Thankfully, Matteo showed up behind Alexander and grabbed hold of hisarm.

“Alex, not a good idea, myfriend.”

Alexander looked to Matteo, his eyes still flashing with anger, but he released hishold.

“What’s going on?” Allyson yelled over the music, apparently not having seen my run in with thestranger.

“Nothing,” I told her. As far as I was concerned, Alexander’s rage was completely unjustified. I could have handled the guy just fine on my own. Now it appeared that I would have to coddle Alexander’s jealousiesinstead.

Stepping in between the two men, I planted a long and leisurely kiss on Alexander’s lips. My hope was that I could send a stronger message to the creep who grabbed me, as well as dispel some of Alexander’sanger.

It seemed to have worked. Alexander pulled my body tight to his returned my kiss, his lips pressing passionately down on mine. When Matteo let out a loud wolf whistle, I felt Alexander’s lips turn up in a smile againstmine.

I pulled away and looked toward Matteo and Allyson. They were both dancing and smiling at us. After a quick glance around, I saw that the man who grabbed me was nowhere in sight. I breathed a sigh ofrelief.

“You know, I could have handled that guy,” I toldAlexander.

“You also could have changed your clothes like I wanted you to,” he countered. His eyes drilled holes into me and I could tell his anger was still simmering just below the surface. I tilted my chin up indefiance.

“Right. Like my clothes have anything to do with whathappened.”

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