Page 12 of Consumed By Desire

He’s right. I get past my nerves easily since no one’s paying any attention to me. Asher introduces me to so many people I give up on trying to remember all of their names. I barely get a moment to speak to him since every time we turn around, there’s someone else coming up to shake his hand and take his attention. The only time we’re left alone is when another performance starts, and we can’t talk then either.

“Did you have fun?” Asher asks once the evening’s brought to a close. He slips his arm around my waist as we leave. I like it when he does that. I really do wish this was a real date. “This kind of thing isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time.”

“It was great. I had no idea what to expect but I really enjoyed myself.”

He turns to look at me. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Of course. The dancers were incredible. The band was amazing. I liked everything about tonight. Who wouldn’t?” I didn’t even mind the speeches, but that was probably because Iwas checking out everyone around me. Violet wants a full report on all the dresses.

Asher’s not looking very impressed. “Didn’t you have a good time?” I ask him.

He nods. “I did. Mostly because I was with you. I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself. Now, let’s get that dinner if you still want to.”

“Absolutely.”

The line of cars waiting out front are all black and identical. Somehow Asher knows which one is here for him and he takes me over to it.

“Cyn 6,” he tells the driver. I know the name but I’ve certainly never been there. I worry that I might be overdressed but we pull up and I can see that I’ll fit right in here. It’s exactly the kind of place you’d go to after you’ve been to an event like Unmasked.

“Mr. Kingston.” The host recognizes Asher immediately and takes us right to a table by the window with a lovely view. A waiter appears the moment we set our menus down. After we order, Asher picks up my hands in a gesture that surprises me.

His eyes catch mine and I falter at the intensity in them. “Thank you again for coming with me, Elena. It really helped me out.”

“Helped you out how?” I ask. “You pretty much knew everyone there. It’s not like you needed me to talk to.”

“Anyone who attends these events solo doesn’t fit in at all. I don’t need that kind of attention when I make high profile public appearances.”

Before I can dig around to find out why he gets so much attention, the waiter returns to fill our glasses with the wine Asher ordered. I get the sense he’s pretty private about certain things and this is one of them. I’m absolutely dying to ask himwhat he does for a living but something tells me he doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Besides, there’s no one there I wanted to talk to more than you,” Asher continues once the waiter’s gone. “Tell me more about yourself.”

Before I can come up with something interesting to say, another waiter arrives with our food. That was so incredibly fast I can’t believe it. Asher looks like he expected nothing less, as if this is the kind of service he’s used to. It probably is. I guess I should stop being surprised by anything and really embrace this world.

Because as much as I’d love to believe that this is actually my new life, I have to remember that it’s all just temporary. I really am like Cinderella tonight. This is one extra special evening that’s nowhere close to normal for me.

I’m going to enjoy my time in this lifestyle as much as I possibly can. I’m not even going to talk about anything real tonight.

I keep it light and Asher does the same thing. He’s not asking me anything deep about myself. Neither one of us brings up work at all, so I don’t have to try and dodge the fact that I’m more likely to be part of the staff in a restaurant like Cyn 6 rather than being able to eat here. We completely avoid chatting about the usual things like where are you originally from, what about your family, all of the boring first date stuff.

Instead we talk about the event, the food, what plans we have for the weekend. I have to scramble with that one. Other than pulling a couple of shifts at the restaurant, I have no plans at all. Glamorous or otherwise. I need to change that and get more of a life so I have something to talk about. Asher doesn’t seem to notice or care that I don’t have anything to do. Everything flows so easily between us, it’s the best non-date date I’ve had.

Asher takes my hand when it’s time to leave. I’m not imagining it. There’s chemistry between us and it’s not just all on my side. His brown eyes catch mine.

“So. Back home?”

Chapter 5

Asher

I spend the entire drive back trying to talk myself out of sleeping with Elena. It was hard to pay attention to anyone else but her. She was the most beautiful woman at that gala and I was far from the only one to notice.

The moment we get upstairs, I know I can’t leave her.

She pauses we reach her place. “Would you like to come in?”

Wrapping my arms around her, I stroke her cheek. “Yes.”

If she hadn’t invited me inside, I would’ve brought her back to my place. No question about it.

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