“Try harder.”
“You’re not even slightly attractive to me.”
“Explain.”
She looked him over desperately. “You’re too—um—tall.”
He snorted. “Too tall?”
“Fine. I’ll give you a reason,” she snapped. “It’s not you, it’s me. I’m just a frigid virgin, all right?”
“The virgin I might believe. But frigid?” Shaking his head, Kassius gave a low laugh. Pulling her closer, he ran his hands over her soft, bare shoulders. He felt her tremble as she looked up at him breathlessly. He could see the shape of her taut nipples through her silky bodice. Running his hands slowly, sensuously, down her arms, he said, “You are far from that.”
She looked at him with big eyes. “Please...please don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because—” She swallowed, then said in a voice so low he had to strain to hear, “If I don’t make you stop pursuing me, my boss says I’m fired. And she’ll make sure I never get another job.”
He was so shocked he almost laughed. “She said what?”
But it was obvious Laney didn’t see it as a joke but a real threat. Her face was anguished. “If I can’t work, how will I support my family? So you have to go away and leave me alone.” Her pleading brown gaze fell to his lips as she whispered, “Just go...”
Her words might be saying one thing, but her body was saying another. She didn’t even know what she was really asking him for. But he did.
Laney was a virgin? He could hardly believe it. He’d never made love to a virgin before. It was almost cruel. It made him desire her even more, when he was already nearly exploding with need, and would also force him to seduce her more slowly. He didn’t know how much more self-restraint he could endure. Where women were concerned, he wasn’t accustomed to it.
The orchestra’s music stopped, and as the other couples left the dance floor, he felt their curious glances as they passed, felt Mimi’s glower from the crowd.
He knew he was making a mistake. He’d always been private to the point of mania, but here, in the literal spotlight, he suddenly didn’t care who might be watching.
Pulling Laney roughly against his body, he tangled his hands in her hair, tilting her chin upward. “Get one thing straight,” he said, searching her gaze ruthlessly. “I don’t give a damn about Mimi or anyone else. I only care about one thing.”
She looked at him defiantly. “And what might that be?”
“Taking what I want,” he said ruthlessly. “And I want you.”
And cupping her face with his hands, he lowered his head and kissed her, right there on the dance floor of the New Year’s Eve ball.
* * *
His lips were soft against hers at first. Laney felt the roughness of his chin, the sweet taste of his mouth.
She had no idea what to do. The one time she’d been kissed before, it had been a total disaster.
But this was different. He was different. As Kassius’s mouth began to move more forcefully against hers, taking rather than asking, she realized she didn’t have to do anything but surrender. Her eyes squeezed shut.
As she relaxed against him, his kiss deepened, and he pushed her lips apart, plundering her mouth. She nearly gasped at the pleasure that went through her, a whoosh of sensation that electrified her from her lips to her earlobes to her breasts and lower still. Her nipples tightened. Low in her belly, she felt a new sensation coil deep inside her.
Pleasure seemed to be exploding from her body like light. She’d never experienced anything like this—never—
“You’re mine,” he whispered roughly against her lips. “Mine.”
She realized she’d tightened her hands against his shoulders, bringing him down hard against her in the kiss. Then he abruptly pulled away, leaving her bereft.
Her eyes flew open, and she saw the orchestra had taken a break—they were alone on the dance floor and the entire ballroom had fallen silent, staring at them. Mimi’s eyes were beaming such lasers of fury Laney feared she might burst into flame. Then she remembered.
“Oh, no,” Laney choked out. Her hands went to her face in dismay. What had she done, letting him kiss her? How could she have been so selfish as to give in to the moment when her family was counting on her? “What have I done?”
“Nothing. Yet.” He sounded almost amused as his larger hand took hers. His dark eyes seared her. “But you will. You’re coming home with me. Now.”
Laney looked up at him, feeling like her whole future was hanging in the balance.
She looked at Kassius in his sleek bespoke tuxedo, so tall and broad shouldered. Power and wealth clung to him as ineffably as his faint scent of cypress and musk.
There was no way a handsome billionaire could actually want Laney. She was just a regular girl. She liked fried chicken and po’ boy sandwiches, not foie gras and caviar. She drank sweet tea, not Dom Pérignon. She bought her clothes from discount warehouses, not based on prestige or even appearance, but comfort and practicality.
She had nothing in common with the typical girlfriends of billionaires—nothing!
“You can’t want me. You can’t possibly want me.”
“Why?” he demanded.
“Why? Because you’re—you. And I’m me.” She could still hardly believe that she was even here, in this illustrious gilded ballroom in Monaco, with its soaring crystal chandeliers, full orchestra and a thousand members of the international jet set. Her only other dance experience had been at senior prom, in a school gymnasium with paper decorations and balloons, a punch bowl and a DJ. She’d been hopeful and excited, wondering if the high school quarterback would kiss her. And look how that night had turned out. “Please just let me go.”
Kassius’s dark eyes glittered. “Is that really what you want?”
No. No. Of course it wasn’t. She felt intoxicated and alive for the first time in her life. She wanted to be beautiful and desired by the most handsome, powerful man on earth, one of the richest men in the world. The thought was like a dream to her. A deliriously impossible dream.
She felt everyone staring at them, the only ones left on the dance floor. The center of attention.
She whispered, “Everyone is staring at us.”
“Staring at you. They’re wondering who you are.”
She gave a low laugh. “I’ve lived here almost two years!”
“As a servant. Invisible.” He stroked her bare shoulder, looking down at her in the shimmering gold gown. “You’re not invisible anymore.”
Because of you, she thought. Her heart was pounding in her throat.
“Come with me. Now. Tonight.” His handsome face was hungry and hard as he took her hand.
She did not—could not—resist. He led her through the ballroom, and a path magically cleared for him—all six foot four, two hundred pounds of muscle—through the crowd.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mimi and Araminta’s thin, shocked faces as they passed by. But she couldn’t think about that now, or her future. All she could do was follow where Kassius led, out of the ballroom and the vast building to the street outside, where a sleek dark car swiftly pulled up to the curb and a uniformed driver hastened to open her door.
Outside, the moon