Page 56 of Prelude To You

Celeste obeyed immediately, like a good girl. As she ambled over to her husband, she scraped by Roman, her fingers brushing deliberately over his arm. He ignored her and strolled back to me. My stomach turned.

It was all very unreal and very fucked up.I was caught up in something I probably couldn’t handle. Roman’s hand slipped onto my back and despite everything, he made me feel safeagain. “You look serious,” he noted as I stared after Celeste and Porter Van Buren.

“I was just wondering…if she’s not afraid to walk around wearing all that jewelry.”

“The Belmont Hotel hosts a lot of very wealthy people. Security is top-notch. And none of the jewelry she’s wearing is real.”

I gasped with relief. “Okay, they look real and very pricey.”

“They’re copies of the real thing,” Roman continued. “The real ones are somewhere in a vault, under lock and key.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “So everyone here basically walks around with fake bling?”

“You know I never thought of it like that, but I suppose you could be right.”

The conversation with Celeste still idled in the back of my mind. “The Van Burens are a delightful pair. Care to tell me what has them so wound up about everything?”

Roman reacted with a reserved chuckle. “Was Celeste rude to you?”

“Rude…no. Just an insecure woman expecting to be exposed at any second for the fraud she is.”

That earned me a raised brow. “That’s the most accurate description of Celeste, well done.”

“So what are those two all about,” I said. “Or shouldn’t I even ask?”

Roman fingers trailed down my arm, causing goosebumps to erupt in their wake. “Celeste is twenty-seven years old, Porter is seventy-three, and they’ve been married for two years. She makes him appear virile and on top of his game, and in return he keeps her in the lap of infinite luxury.”

“You mean like a Faustian bargain?”

He was a bit surprised, perhaps because I’d so effortlessly latched onto his sardonic perception of the couple.

“Exactly,” he said, his eyes never leaving mine. “She offered her soul for wealth and comfort, and Porter was the highest bidder. It’s a way of life that appeals to very specific types of people. The Van Burens are those types of people.”

“Like we didn’t discuss this at length last night. The selling of a soul to the Prince of Darkness.”

His fingers tightened on my back. “Finishing my quote was, well, quite impressive. Not to mention arousing.”

So, aroused but not aroused enough to stay after That Kiss.It took effort not to bring the subject up. I opted for a segue to avoid potential friction. “Celeste did say something interesting though.”

Roman didn’t seem particularly interested in what Celeste had to say, but he patiently waited for me to continue.

“She said I wasn’t your type, and it’s not like I asked.”

A smile lurked in the corners of Roman’s mouth. “Well, that is curious. How would she even know what my type is? She knows me from a few social interactions we’ve had.”

“She made it sound like she knows you pretty well.”

Roman stopped and smiled. “Celeste doesn’t know me. And thank God I don’t know her. The little I do know is that she’s pushy, bored, and most likely bitter. I imagine at twenty-seven it must be very depressing to know the life you signed up for includes sexual encounters that depend entirely on a tiny blue pill taken by a curmudgeon old enough to be your grandfather.”

An involuntary giggle floated out of me. Roman stared as if entranced. He pulled me closer. “If that is not the most delightful sound I’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is.”

I felt my face get warm. He kissed me, completely indifferent to the fact that we were standing in the foyer of the Belmont Hotel. When I pulled back, breathless and in desperate need of something to cool me down, I took note of the many eyes inspecting us curiously.

“I need to get some water,” I said. “All that dancing down the lawn…”

Roman stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “Where are my manners, I should have offered earlier. Let me take you to the wine bar. We can get you some water and have a drink as well.”

His hand folded over mine, and as we walked, he glanced at me with a gleam in his eyes. “Tell me what you said to me in that hallway. In French.”

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