Cole let him go. “Got to head back to Evie. Promised her my first dance.” He brushed past Harrison. As he closed in on Evie, Cole let his gaze casually sweep the crowd. Jeez, you could practically smell the money in the room. Jewels dripped from the women—from their necks, their fingers, their wrists, and their ears. Diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds. A jewel thief’s frigging wet dream.
There was a lot of fake laughter floating around. The kind that said someone had just told a really shitty joke, but refusing to laugh just wasn’t acceptable in those circles. Oh, how those circles got on his nerves. The people seemed too polished and perfect, and Cole knew that he didn’t fit in with them. The tux was too tight and constraining and he would love to rip the damn thing off right then and there.
“You look like you want to kill someone, buddy,” Chase drawled. He lifted the flute of champagne he held. “Why don’t you have a drink and relax?”
Cole barely resisted the urge to tug at his collar. He felt completely out of place, while Chase seemed to have fit right in without any trouble. He was all relaxed and casual, and he didn’t twitch in his perfectly fitting tux.
He stood next to Evie and, damn, but she looked sensational in the beautiful blue dress that she wore. The neckline plunged, revealing the top of her pert breasts. She’d carefully curled her hair in one of those magical ways that women did, she’d used shadow to make her eyes look darker and bigger, and the red lipstick had her full lips glistening. She and Chase stood together, and hell, they looked like a couple. Like they were two people completely at ease in this world of fake laughter and—
Evie slid to Cole’s side. She put her hand on his arm. “Did I see you hug my brother?”
Her touch scorched straight through him. “Yes.”
“Harrison isn’t a hugger.”
Chase choked out a laugh. “Neither is Cole.”
At his laugh—a real laugh—several heads turned their way. One of those heads belonged to Gia Eastman. Dressed in a red evening gown and with rubies hanging around her neck, her gaze locked on Chase and seemed to heat.
“I think you should go make a new friend,” Cole advised him.
“Already on it.” Chase put his flute on a passing waiter’s tray.
Then it was just Cole and Evie. The band began to play and slow, romantic music filled the air. An unusual tension trickled through Cole as he stood there. Other couples were already moving onto the dance floor. Their bodies glided together easily. Perfectly. He knew Evie was a phenomenal dancer, of course, but…
“Would you like to dance with me, Cole?”
He…um. His eyelids flickered.
He caught the flash of hurt on her face.
“You don’t have to,” Evie rushed to say. “I just thought it was part of our cover, you know, us being a couple and all, and I didn’t—forget it. How about we grab some food?” She turned away.
He reached out and curled his fingers over her arm.
She trembled.
“Evie?”
She looked down at his hand on her. Then her eyes lifted and met his.
He pulled her closer. “I want to dance with you.” Having her in his arms? Hell, yes. “But I’m probably not like the partners you’re used to having.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I can’t dance for shit.”
Laughter sputtered from her. Real laughter. Her laughter and Chase’s both were filled with amusement, and that happy sound cut through the fakeness like a knife.
Evie eased even closer to him. “I can help you.”
“Promise?”
“I happen to be very good at teaching people how to dance. You just have to trust me.”
He couldn’t look away from the darkness of her eyes. “I do.” He’d trust Evie with his life.
She smiled at him.
She was the most beautiful thing in his world.
“Take my hand.”
She held one hand up. He curled his fingers around hers.
“Good. Now put your other hand over my ass.”
He put his hand on her ass.
“Over. As in, above. Like, near my lower back.”
“My bad.” He slowly moved up his fingers.
“You knew where you were supposed to put that hand.”
“I’ll put my hands anywhere you want them, sweetheart,” he promised.
Her lips parted. Oh, how he wanted to lower his head and press his mouth to hers.
“Move with me,” she whispered. “Focus on feeling the music. Nothing fancy, just a soft sway.”
His hand tightened on her lower back as he pulled her forward a bit more. He wasn’t feeling the music, he was feeling her, and, as always when Evie was near, his body had a most definite reaction.
A reaction she probably wasn’t missing considering how close they were to each other.
“You’re doing great,” she praised him.
He smiled down at her. “You’re being nice. We both know that I almost smashed your toes twice.”
She winked at him. “Almost, but you didn’t.”
Warmth filled his chest. His body swayed with hers. Moved slowly. “I missed you.”
She faltered, just for a moment, then kept dancing. “You don’t have to lie and tell me those—”
“I missed you. It should have been easy to forget you. I mean, I was in your life for only a week.”
Evie looked away. “Don’t worry about pulling your punches. Please, tell me more about how easy I should be to forget—”
“You weren’t easy to forget. That was the problem. You haunted me. And I wanted you back.”
She didn’t look at him.
“I still want you back. In case you wondered where my head was at. In case the freaking giant hard-on shoving at you wasn’t a clue.”
He saw her swallow. “I did notice that clue.”
“But you’re the one in charge. You want to slip out of your bedroom and kiss me at night? Then come do it. You want more? Do it.” He was so in for that. “Or if you don’t want to do a damn thing—that’s fine, too. I just wanted to tell you how I felt. I missed you. And I still want you.”
Her slick red lips pressed together a moment. Then she put her head on his shoulder.
It was his turn to falter.
But he focused on feeling her, and he kept moving. Cole caught a glimpse of Leopold. The guy gave him a quick thumbs-up before vanishing into the crowd.
“I missed you, too,” she confessed as he bent to pull in her sweet scent. “And I still want you. I’m just not sure what to do with that desire.”
“When you figure it out, I’ll be here. I’m not planning on going any damn place.” Did she get what he was saying? He wasn’t vanishing from her life. Not this time. This time, he had a second chance. He wouldn’t screw it up.
They kept moving like that, slowly, carefully, until the music ended.
Evie’s head lifted. She stared up at him. His head began to lower toward hers. He wanted nothing more than to get her mouth beneath his.
“Evie! I thought that was you.”
And some jackass had just interrupted his moment. Some jackass with truly shit timing.
Locking his teeth, Cole wrapped his arm around Evie’s waist and turned toward the jackass.