Page 107 of Forbidden Romeo

“I don’t care.”

Lars glances at me as if hoping I might intervene. “Well, you see, the lady agreed to–”

“How’s your wife, Lars?” Jack cuts in.

The two men stare at each other before Lars relents, handing me over to my fiance without further protest.

But, as Lars goes to leave, he leans in close to me. “Perhaps we could discuss my suggestions later?”

Jack pulls me into his chest before I can answer, and suddenly we’re flying across the room. As far away from Lars O’Neil as we can get, it seems.

“What the fuck was that?” Jack hisses in my ear.

I let him twirl me around before I reply, “An alternative marriage proposal, I think.”

“What?”

“You interrupted, so I can’t be sure,” I say, matching his every step as he strides confidently around the dancefloor. “But it felt like it was going in that direction.”

“We are supposed to bein love,” Jack bites on the last word bitterly. “You can’t go waltzing with another man in front of everyone.”

I pretend I don’t hear him and carry on. “It was certainly going to be a more romantic proposal; perhaps I should have stayed to hear him out. Considering the amount ofprotectionI’ve received these last few days.”

“Can you not be petty about this for five minutes?”

I scoff as he dips me low. “Then what was that with all those girls earlier?”

“They are myfriends, Aimee. God forbid I introduce you to people.”

“Friends? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say, forcing myself to smile at a couple we pass by.

Jack suddenly pulls me in close, a dangerous smirk on his lips. “Oh, I get it, you’re jealous.”

“Of who,Jacky?” I bite back.

I watch the fire in his eyes burn brighter and brighter. The music is fading, and the people around us disappear.

“I can’t believe I ever thought you and I were a good idea,” he whispers so softly I barely catch the insult.

“Oh no, did proposing to the girl you barely knew backfire on you?”

The music stopped several beats ago. But still, we stand there in the middle of the dance floor. Chests pressed together, heaving with the strain of our dancing. My heart beats frantically in time with his.

I could kiss him right now. It would taste like sweat and anger andpassion.

He glances at my lips. Fuck. If he kisses me now, I won’t have the restraint to stop. I’d let him have his way with me. Anything to release this tension between us.

“All right, you two, save some for the honeymoon,” Kate’s voice breaks through the echo chamber of our ragged breaths.

We jump apart quickly as she approaches, and I busy myself fixing my hair. To my despair, it seems we’ve attracted something of an audience. Even Padraic, sitting up on the second-floor balcony that overlooks the dancefloor, is staring at us. The men around him whisper in his ear as they smoke cigars as thick as my arm.

“Your performance seems to have satisfied Padraic,” Kate mutters to us both quietly.

I try to ignore the fact we weren’t attempting to perform as I answer. “Does that mean I can go?”

“Give it five, but yes. Good job.” The blonde turns on Jack and narrows her eyes. “And you. Try to act for five minutes like you’re thinking with the head on your shoulders.”

Jack merely nods silently in response. I watch them for a moment before leaving the dancefloor, trying not to make eye contact with anyone as I silently count back from five minutes in my head.

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