I’m not sure what to feel, what to think. “Why me?”
“Because I can’t help myself with you, Aria. And that doesn’t happen. Not to me. Come home with me.”
My hand lands on the solid wall of his chest, his heart thundering beneath my palm, his body telling me that his words aren’t just words—he means his words. I should say no. I know I should say no but it’s just one night. It’s always one night with a man like Kace August. And before I can stop myself, I say exactly what he wants me to say, what I want to say, “Yes.”
His mouth closes over mine again, the taste of him hungry, wicked, addictive, and gone too soon. “Let’s get out of here before someone slows us down,” he murmurs, and when I mouth “yes,” he waits for nothing more. He catches my hand and leads me down a hallway to yet another hallway and then an exit where a tall, bald, muscular man in a tuxedo, awaits.
“Mr. August,” he greets and then inclines his chin at me, a hint of a tattoo peeking from beneath his collar. “Ma’am.”
“Hey, Leo,” Kace replies. “We’re out of here for the night.”
“Understood,” Leo confirms before he knocks on the door and someone opens it from the other side. Cold air gusts through the door and I shiver and turn to Kace. “My coat.” Kace instantly shrugs out of his, wrapping the soft leather that was just next to his body around mine, using the lapels to step me into him. “Better?”
“Yes,” I say, no longer cold despite the still open door, but decidedly warm and swoony “But I should go upfront and grab my own coat.”
“Not without walking through the auction room and the front doors are locked for VIP events. Do you have a ticket?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.” I reach in my purse and hand it to him.
“We’ll have it delivered to my place.” He is about to step away when Leo holds up a hand. “I’ll handle it.”
Kace arches a brow. “You can blow up buildings and bad guys and retrieve coats?”
“Walker Security is nothing if not versatile, and as part of your security team, I’d prefer your address to stay with us. I got this.” He eyes me. “You’ll have your coat before the evening ends.”
“Thank you, Leo,” I say.
Leo offers me a tiny nod. “My absolute pleasure.”
Kace shakes his hand and then he’s whisking me into the night air and a private alleyway with his car parked to our right. We head that way and a valet opens the passenger door for me. Kace’s hand strokes my hair and he’s right there with me as I climb inside, but he doesn’t linger. I’m quickly enclosed inside the Roadster with the seductive scent of man and leather now all around me. Kace joins me almost immediately, claiming the driver’s seat and cranking the engine.
His eyes meet mine and I don’t know how it happens or why, but we both start smiling. And with that shared smile, I am lost in this night and this man, into the escape I never allow myself. The rest of the world fades, my fears and worries with it. At least for now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I knew Kace lived in Tribeca. I knew that meant money and power.
But when he pulls us to the door of one of the newest, tallest, most unique half-moon shaped buildings, I’m fighting a fish-out-of-water sensation. This is not my world, and yet somehow this man lives inside exactly that: my world. A world, or at least his home, he swears he’s invited no one inside, and yet, he’s invited me. And I believe him. Perhaps that is yet another of the many ways Kace appeals to me. Despite a recognizable name, he’s private. He chooses privacy, thus it feels that he will understand mine.
Kace opens his door. “I’ll come around and get you,” he says, but already someone is opening my door, the chill of the evening permeating the warm cocoon of the car. A new season is upon us, the old fading into the past, and it feels as if I’m a part of that change. I’m changing. I can feel it happening.
It’s then that I realize I’m here, at this place I don’t know, without even a full-sized purse. Even my coat is, in fact, Kace’s coat. That’s how much I’ve allowed myself to step out of my comfort zone, how much I’m changing. Gio told me this had to happen and then pressed my hand and ensured it did by simply leaving me alone. My brother is a man that pushes limits. For all I know, that was his intent: to push mine. For now, I’d like to believe that to be true. He left so that I could be found. If that’s true, I’ll hug him and hit him, in that order.
Shifting, I settle my feet on the ground. Already, Kace is there, towering above me, offering me his hand. I steel myself for the impact of his touch, and when my palm touches his palm, I’m a moth to a flame, and he is that flame. He eases me to my feet and grips the lapels of my jacket, his jacket, and steps in close to me. The cold air swirls around us, but inside this new cocoon he’s created there is nothing but heat.
“Once you go upstairs with me,” he says, his voice low and rough, for my ears only, “you’re all mine. And I don’t promise to be a gentleman about it.” His hand slides under my hair, his lips finding my ear. “I promise to kiss and lick you in every one of the many places I’ve been thinking about kissing and licking you since the day I met you.”
He’s been thinking about kissing me and licking me from the day he met me?
Yes.
Please.
He pulls back to look at me, those eyes, God those eyes, pinning me in a stare. “Unless you’d rather me be a gentleman and take you home?”
Home.
I don’t even know what that means right now. And I don’t want to think about it. I’m not fooling myself into thinking Kace is my Prince Charming. I’m not fooling myself into thinking I dare to have a real relationship, but I dare to have this night. I dare whatever this night brings.
“I want to be right here,” I say. “With you. Tonight.”
On the word tonight, his eyes narrow and he studies me, his expression indiscernible, before he leans in and kisses me. “Let’s go upstairs.” He catches my hand and only then do we step away from the vehicle.
“We’re in for the night,” Kace calls out to one of the two men working the front door.
We’re in for the night.
I could be embarrassed by the way this announces that I’ll be naked with Kace tonight, but I’m not. The way Kace said those words—they fell from his lips as if me being a part of “we” was natural. He didn’t say “I.” That’s what stands out to me.
His arm slides around me and we enter a large lobby that is stunning with brown wood floors streaked with black. Fancy leather seating areas are accented with drop lights above each. A half-moon shaped security desk is to our far left, a wide distance between it and us, but Kace waves at the tall, dark-haired man behind the counter before we cut right and enter a bank of elevators. He punches a button and the doors to the nearest car open.
It’s barely a moment, and I’m inside with him, and he’s punched a code into the panel and then pulls me close, holding his jacket around me. “I like you in my jacket.”