Page 89 of Poison Vows

“This is going to be a fun night,” he hums with a charming smile on his beautiful face, and offers me his arm. “Most of my family is here to meet you. If at any time you feel uncomfortable, please let me know and I’ll do my best to save you.”

I smile at Vaughn’s generosity, but my mind has since wandered away and is now stuck on one thing and one thing alone.

Where is Emmett?

As we go down the elegant halls and pass through the rooms, I search for him.

I hear classical music playing, a feature ultra-rich people like for some reason, but it does nothing to soothe my nerves.

Vaughn leads me to a large, beautiful dining room, with a big table all set up with gorgeous flowers, candles, crystal glasses, and polished silverware.

I quickly scan the room. After all, this is a family dinner, he should be here too, but I don’t see him at all.

Where the hell is he?

I start feeling anxious and prickly, fighting hard not to look as uncomfortable as I feel.

So I feign confidence, holding my head up, stretching my neck like the models I see online.

When Vaughn says something, I clutch his arm and laugh, but if someone asks me right now what he just said, I’ll draw a blank.

But it doesn’t matter. My response seems appropriate because Vaughn smiles at me, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment.

Jesus, it’s easy to fall in love with a guy like this.

He doesn’t push, nor does he make me feel like I’m walking on an ultra-thin thread across an abyss like someone does.

“You smell amazing too,” he murmurs in my ear and this time, I do feel a swift kick in my stomach.

I’ve never had this kind of male attention my whole life.

Back then, I didn’t even care about that because all my focus was always on one person.

So now, knowing full well that Vaughn is flirting with me, I can’t help but feel like hiding.

How does one behave in this situation?

But I’m wearing this very, very sexy dress and I’m on a mission. If I shrink back now, what does that say about my resolve? Weak-minded much?

“Did I make your brain scramble?” Vaughn questions softly, a huge grin on his face.

“N-no,” I stutter, beginning to panic. “I’m just internally debating something.”

“And what’s that?”

“Whether or not your comment was acceptable or if it was some creepy Mafia fetish.”

Vaughn throws his head back and barks out a rich, deep laugh that stuns me… along with everyone else in the room, much to my chagrin.

His laugh sounds… beautiful, but also awkward, like he’s not used to it.

I’m proved correct when I see Vaughn’s father’s eyebrows rise up in our direction… but the man standing at the very edge of the room fixes his eyes on Vaughn intently.

Who is he?

“Everyone’s watching,” I quickly say, moving to stand with my back to them.

Vaughn chuckles some more. “I didn’t know that compliments are categorized in ranges of acceptable to creepy fetishes.”

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