One Night Stand novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Gala

I looked away first.

When I looked back, the man in the camel coat had gone.

My mouth was dry.

I had known he existed, of course.

I had thought about him on the bus on Tuesday.

I had thought about him every night since, in a house with forty plastic dinosaurs in the window.

I had never thought he would walk into a ballroom.

"There you are."

Mateo's hand slid around my waist from behind.

"I was gone nine minutes. A trustee told me his own divorce story in four parts."

"Mateo, I need to tell you something."

"Dance with me first."

"It's important."

"So is this."

He took my hand and walked me out onto the floor before I could answer.

The quartet had slid into something slow.

Three hundred people watched the CEO of Kincaid Hotels put his arm around a woman in a plain green dress.

He did not seem to notice.

He held me as though the room were empty.

"They're staring," I said.

"They're doing their jobs."

"What job?"

"Deciding whether you're a scandal or a Kincaid." His thumb moved on my spine. "I've told them you're both."

I laughed against his shirt.

His mouth came down beside my ear, and his voice dropped to a murmur no one else could catch.

"I've been thinking about the potting table all week."

My step faltered.

"Mateo."

"I've been thinking about your hands on my belt. About the sound you made when I put my mouth on you."

His breath was warm on my neck.

"I'm going to take this dress off you tonight, one inch at a time. You're going to have to ask me to hurry."

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