level, looking down at the dancers below and he subtly pointed to his left with a twitch of his thumb. I followed the direction he’d indicated with my eyes and saw the man there who was pushing between the crowd, hurrying along and giving off the distinct impression that he was looking for something.
A waiter passed by with flutes of champagne and Sloan and I took one as we stopped walking and waited for the all clear. The henchman kept going through the crowd, pushing his way through the doors which led out to the balcony which fronted the building and leaving us free to move again.
I left my champagne on an empty table and Sloan followed suit as we slipped away between the press of bodies, heading for the darkened corridor leading away from the corner of the room.
I cast a glance over my shoulder before stepping into it and Sloan bit her lip as we hurried along the carpeted floors.
We rounded a corner and I caught her arm, making her wait as I paused to make sure that no one had followed us.
Sloan nervously chewed on her lip as we maintained the silence and I waited with nothing but the heavy beat of my heart to hear above the noise of the party we’d just left.
Once I was sure no one was following us, we hurried on, slipping along the corridor and jogging down a back staircase so that we could head towards the party once more from downstairs.
Before we could reach the ballroom again, we fell still beside a small restroom with an out of order sign hanging from the door.
I checked the corridor once more then pushed the door open, coming face to face with Rocco who looked ready to murder anyone who tried to come in here.
His face split into a wide grin as he recognised us and we moved into the small space quickly.
There were only two toilet stalls and one large vanity unit with a sink set into the marble top, but they’d spent a lot of money making it luxurious. I’d never really understood the need for such lavish surroundings for a place where people just came to take a shit, but I guessed it was better than walking into some piss-stinking, green tiled monstrosity.
Winter leapt at me the moment the door swung closed behind me, her arms curling around my neck as she crushed me against her and held me like she never wanted to let go again. I wanted to lift her into my arms but as I gripped her ass to pick her up, the tightness of her full skirt stopped her from wrapping her legs around me and I just ended up holding her against my chest, her feet several inches from the ground as she half laughed and half sobbed into my neck.
“I just got done telling your girl about the way her husband almost killed you by spiking your drink and then made that hooker climb you like a pole to put on a show for her,” Rocco explained and I wrenched myself away from Winter with some difficulty, setting her back on her feet so that I could look at her.
“I’ve got you, baby doll,” I promised her, twisting a finger through one of her red curls as I drank in the sight of her.
There was still a sense of hesitancy between us, like we both needed to know exactly what the other had been doing in the weeks we’d been parted, but we had no time to ask the questions which sat on our tongues.
“Time for the strip show,” Rocco joked and Sloan moved to put her back to him so that he could unzip her dress.
“What are you doing?” Winter breathed, frowning as Sloan dropped the dress to her feet and carefully stepped out of it.
“I’m going to be the decoy,” Sloan explained with a mischievous grin as she stood there in her underwear and opened her purse to take out the red wig she had hidden in there inside a vacuum sealed bag.
As she took it out and started work on fixing it over her black bun, I gently turned Winter around and began unbuttoning her dress for her.
“You look edible no matter what you’re wearing, savage girl,” I breathed as my fingers skimmed down her spine and a shiver followed in response to my touch. “But this dress is fucking hideous.”
Instead of the laugh I expected, she turned her head so