Page 3 of Black Tie Billionaire
A voice sounding suspiciously like that of Gray Chandler, his business partner and best friend—his onlyfriend—hissed a curse at him. How many times had Gray warned him to temper his brusque, straightforward manner? Well, to be more accurate, his friend described Gideon as tactless. Pretty words weren’t his forte; honesty was. Normally, he didn’t regret his abruptness. Like he’d told her, he didn’t indulge in games. But in this moment, he almost regretted it.
Especially if she walked away fromhim.
“Is that why you stopped me? To proposition me?” She dropped her gaze to the champagne glass in his hand, and with just that glance let him know she didn’t buy his pretense of wanting the wine. He shrugged, setting it behind him on one of the high tables scattered around the ballroom.
“Why single me out?” she continued. “Because I’m so beautiful you couldn’t help yourself?” she mocked.“Or because I’m a server, and you’re a guest in a position of power? What happens if I say no? Will I suddenly find myself relieved of my job?”
Disgust and the first flicker of anger wormed its way through his veins. “Do I want to spend a night with you? Inside you? Yes,” he stated, and again her eyes flared wide at his frankness before narrowing. “I told you, I don’t lie. I don’t play games.But if you decline, then no, you would still have a check and employment at the end of the evening. I don’t need to blackmail women into my bed, Camille. Besides, a willing woman, a woman who wants my hands on her body, who pleads for what she knows I can give her, is far more arousing, more pleasurable. And any man worth his dick would value that over a woman who’s coerced or forced into handingover something that should be offered or surrendered of her own free will.”
She silently studied him, the fire fading from her stare, but something else flicked in those dark eyes. And that “something” had him easing a step closer, yet stopping short of invading her personal space.
“To answer your other question,” he murmured. “Why did I single you out? Your first guess was correct. Becauseyou are so beautiful I couldn’t help following you around this over-the-top ballroom filled with people who possess more money than sense. The women here can’t outshine you. They’re like peacocks, spreading their plumage, desperate to be noticed, and here you are among them, like the moon. Bright, alone, above it all and eclipsing every one of them. What I don’t understand is how no one elsenoticed before me. Why every man in this place isn’t standing behind me in a line just for the chance to be near you.”
Silence swelled around them like a bubble, muting the din of the gala. His words seemed to echo in the cocoon, and he marveled at them. Hadn’t he sworn he didn’t do pretty words? Yet it had been him talking about peacocks and moons.
What was she doing to him?
Evenas the question echoed in his mind, her head tilted back and she stared at him, her lovely eyes darker...hotter. In that moment, he’d stand under a damn balcony and serenade her if she continued looking at him like that. He curled his fingers into his palm, reminding himself with the pain that he couldn’t touch her. Still, the only sound that reached his ears was the quick, soft pants breaking onher pretty lips.
As ridiculous as it seemed, he swore each breath slid under his clothes, swept over his skin. He ached to have each moist puff dampen his shoulders, his chest as her fingernails twisted in his hair, dug into his muscles, clinging to him as he drove them both to the point of carnal madness.
The growl prowled up his throat and out of him before he could contain it.
“I—I need to go,” she whispered, already shifting back and away from him. “I—” She didn’t finish the thought, but turned and waded into the crowd, distancing herself from him.
He didn’t follow; she hadn’t said no, but she hadn’t said yes, either. And though he’d caught the desire in her gaze—his stomach still ached from the gut punch of it—she had to come to him.
Or ask him to come forher.
Rooted where she’d left him, he tracked her movements.
Saw the moment she cleared the mass of people and strode in the direction of the double doors where more tray-bearing staff emerged and exited.
Saw when she paused, palm pressed to one of the panels.
Saw when she glanced over her shoulder in his direction.
Even across the distance of the ballroom, the electric shockof that look whipped through him, sizzled in his veins. Moments later, she disappeared from view. Didn’t matter; his feet were already moving in her direction.
That glance, that look. It’d sealed her fate.
Sealed it for both of them.
