Okay, I’m starstruck. The entire place is like something out of a movie. Everything is elegant and the right kind of glitz. I’ve seen award parties and the galas at the Met. Not in real life, but on TV, online, photos. This…it puts them to shame. It puts pageants to shame, which me in my ridiculous innocence thought were the height of glamor. Glamor and wealth are everywhere, and all the women are gorgeous in their insanely expensive dresses and jewels.
I feel so out of place. I’m a sheltered girl with one friend who, for all intents and purpose, is a prisoner. I’m a nobody with the most gorgeous, hottest man in the room. Women look at him and sigh. I get some sharp and nasty looks, and there are a few men who eye Nikolai longingly as well. There are sport stars and movie stars. There are politicians and a few billionaires I recognize from online gossip sites.
Of course, security abounds. I recognize a number from the grounds of Nikolai’s place. Sneaking away might be harder than I first thought, but I can try, as soon as I get a chance.
“Soaking it all in?” I shiver at the soft heat in Nikolai’s voice as he hands me a flute of buttery champagne. He’s just finished talking to a very serious woman about so much money and different charities, I actually feel a little sick at the vast numbers.
The woman fluttered her eyelashes at him, but Nikolai didn’t notice, just toyed with a strand of my hair and dropped a kiss on my forehead, like all he sees is me.
“Enjoying yourself, sweet Rose?”
When I look up, he smiles. It’s intimate and hot and sweet, and I almost tumble, even though I’m standing still. The hand at my waist tightens a little, and he leans in.
“Be fucking careful. You keep looking at me like that, reacting like that, and I’m finding a dark corner to fuck you in, which is not really the plan.”
I swallow, and my panties are now officially soaked. I press my thighs together, hard, just to get a tiny bit of relief.
“I saw that.”
“You saw nothing.”
He just smiles, and I realize I just gave myself away. He’s such an asshole.
“Come on,” he mutters. Nikolai introduces me to so many famous and important people, my head starts to spin. Ironically, the more I meet, the less I care. The only thing that matters is him, his hand on me, how he’s touching me. My arm, my cheek, my hair. The entire world knows I’m his, but he’s also stating he’s mine.
It’s an act, I know it’s an act, but it’s one I want to indulge in. I like belonging.
“Rose,” Nikolai murmurs against my ear, voice full of dark, seductive undertones. “You’re breaking one my rules.”
His fingers slide over mine, stopping me from lifting a champagne flute to my lips. “I didn’t notice…”
He leans in, one hand sliding about my waist as he takes the drink from me and downs it, only to have a passing waiter set it on her tray. Nikolai touches his lips to my ear. “Lies, Rose. You know what happens to naughty girls.”
A dark thrill passes through me as he gives me a heated look, so full of promises of punishment, the kind I like.
“Good bad things?”
“Very bad and very good.” And we’re off again.
I’m spinning inside, sliding down into the kind of anticipatory pleasure only Nikolai can bring. The lights are a soft glow, the noise and laughter of the people a backdrop to elegant music. Nikolai dances with me, only me, fingers on the top of my ass and on the curve of my lower back. He’s a little too close, way too thrilling, and I’m a mess of need inside.
He talks to people, and I do my job of smiling and making noncommittal small talk. People might think I’m an idiot, it doesn’t matter.
He’s the one they primarily want to speak to.
I notice something else, too. It’s not how handsy he is as the night wears on, not how the heat of him seems to be part of me, how he takes time to murmur things in my ear, to check on me, to make me feel I’m there, with him as part of a couple. No, I notice how Nikolai is incredibly deft at seeming to be open while giving absolutely nothing in return. Not one person he speaks to goes away learning a thing about him. He’s present and there, charming as the depths of hell, but he deflects, mirrors them.
As a skill, it’s one I want. I’m not entirely sure if he uses it on me, and the thought terrifies me.
“You need anything?” Nikolai asks.
I look up at him, his fingers trailing along the back of the collar as the senator he’s talking to finds himself at an abrupt end to their conversation.
I’m what Nikolai is focused on. Maybe I have been the entire night.
Just you, I want to say, but I swallow the words because I need to remind myself this is nothing more than a game. “Bathroom?”
He kisses me softly. “To the back, and don’t do anything fucking stupid.”
Then, he lets me go and turns to someone else. Yet, I feel his gaze on me as I cross the huge room. Even when I get to the smaller hall where the bathrooms are, out of sight, I still feel his eyes on me somehow. It’s silly, only in my head, but he’s left his mark on me.
Of course, I don’t really need the bathroom. I was hoping for an exit door, but frown when I find nothing of the sort. Instead, there’s a bank of public phones. I pick one up, and shock skitters up my spine. There’s actually a dial tone. It works.
Trembling, I look carefully around. I don’t see Nikolai. Who am I going to call, anyway-
Genius. It-It’s not breaking the rules by calling her just to say I’m alive and okay. Right? She probably isn’t near her phone. I don’t let myself second guess myself as I dial her number.
She answers after the third ring. “This better be good. This better be
Callum-”
“It’s me.”
There’s dead silence.
“Zomg!” She says it like a word. “Roz! I’ve been so fucking worried. Where are you? Did you, like, melt down? If you say you did, I don’t believe you. You don’t melt like that. I’ve filed reports, but the cops do nothing! There was a stupid article. Where are you? Tell me! I’m coming
-”
My heartbeat is jumping erratically, but it’s so damn good to hear her voice. “Genius, listen. I don’t have long.” I grip the phone tight in one sweating hand. “I just wanted you to know I’m okay. I-I can’t say much.”
“What do you mean? Roz-Roz? Are you okay?”
“Yes. Well, kind of. I’m not hurt, but don’t tell anyone I called. It’s too dangerous.”
“Jeebus, Roz. What does that mean? You’re freaking me out here.” Genius’s voice turns harder with concern. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.”
“No!” I practically bark out the word, but just thinking about her getting involved in this world of crime and murder makes my stomach spin. “Listen, I’m with someone. It’s not my choice, but I’m good. I’m safe for now. I’m in-”
A hand comes down on the switch hook connector things. I freeze as the line goes dead. All I see is the black jacket and the beautiful, pale dove gray cuff with onyx and black rhodium cufflinks, and my held breath turns into ice shards in my lungs.
I look up. Nikolai. Shit.