A server materialized from nowhere with flutes for us. We each took one. “To decadence and having more money than God,” Jada said. I clinked her glass and sipped on the champagne. The taste and scent flashed me back to the night before when Dawson had drizzled some over my body and licked it away.
My body burned, and I had to shake the thought away before I embarrassed myself.
“Jada!” A tall, black-haired beauty with skin a silky brown greeted her. The costume she wore was bright green and striped with gold that shimmered and shook.
“Benita.” Jada air-kissed her. “I thought you were in Brazil for a photo shoot.”
“I was, but then I heard you were throwing the party of the century, and I changed my plans. Flew in just a few hours ago. I’ll go back tomorrow.”
The woman turned her eyes to me, sticking out a black-gloved hand. “Benita Santos.”
“Violet Banner,” I said, taking the proffered hand and shaking it lightly.
“New blood. She’s going to be devoured with those lilac eyes,” Benita said with a quirk of her lips.
“She’s off-limits to the carousel. Send a message by carrier pigeon if you need to,” Dawson’s deep voice said from behind me just as his warm breath sailed over my skin at my neck and his hand hit my waist, pulling me into him.
Benita’s eyes flicked to Dawson’s face, down to our hands now linked, and her smile widened. “The fortress otherwise known as Dawson Langley has been breached. My, my. This is an interesting development.”
She slid away.
I turned to face Dawson, and any words I was about to say disappeared. He was beyond handsome. He should have been one of the gods in the fountain. The tuxedo stretched across the wide expanse of his shoulders perfectly. The silk lapels stood out from the black of the jacket with a shimmer of silver strands so small they could hardly be seen. His hair was slicked back like mine, but it accentuated his square jaw and bold cheekbones in a way that screamed masculine.
He was inhuman, and he was mine.
He was staring at me as much as I was staring at him, taking in the thin dress that did little to hide my curves. He lingered on my burgundy-coated lips. A color that matched the dress.
“Violet…” he said with a guttural growl. “You look stunning.”
Jada laughed, and he dragged his eyes from me to her, smiling when he saw her costume. Of the two of us, she was definitely the beauty queen, but Dawson barely appeared to register her when he said, “You look beautiful too, Jada.”
Then, his eyes were back on mine.
Jada repressed another laugh half-heartedly. “I’m going to go find Yuriko. Don’t leave her unattended, Dawson, unless you want Benita’s vampires to find her.”
I rolled my eyes as my friend moved through the crowd.
“I know she’s joking, but with all of this”—I flung my hand around the space decorated to the hilt with twenties ostentatious glamour—“I could almost believe it.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled it to his chest. Then, he leaned down and placed the barest whisper of a kiss on my lips before pulling back and saying, “The only one biting you ever again, will be me.”
And that was enough to make me want to leave the party, the house, and everything else behind.
Dawson
FEARLESS
“I'm brave enough to feel this, feel this,
I'm running down my demons, demons.”
Performed by The Goo Goo Dolls
Written by Rzeznik / Fuhrmann
Violet looked like a movie star. Like she belonged on the screen as DiCaprio’s leading lady. It filled me with desire and protectiveness. Not only because I wanted to keep her far away from tonight’s activities, but because I wanted to keep her away from Benita’s lecherous friends who would think she was a nice little snack.
But first, I wanted to punish her for letting me wake to an empty bed and an empty house after our night of lovemaking. Her scent had been tangled on and around me, and I’d felt the disappointment like a brick to my stomach when she wasn’t anywhere to be found. I’d woken with the desire to pull her back into bed, and once I’d realized she’d gone to Jada’s, a different feeling had settled in my gut.
Doing this undercover job, I was rarely nervous—I could have counted the times on one hand and still have digits to spare. But with Violet here, I couldn’t keep the flutters away. How was I going to do the job I needed