children needed more supervision and attention than Gracie could give them alone. Not to mention Zack was heavily opposed to anything that took too much of his new wife’s time. They’d been separated for twelve years by horrific circumstances and Zack was making the most of every single day now that they’d found one another again.
“And so help me, Sterling, if you even think about Gracie’s school and or me at the same time when you’re around Gracie, swear to God, I’ll have your nuts.”
His expression became sly and a look entered his eyes she did not like. It made her want to tuck tail and run like the coward he accused her of being.
“I don’t even want to know,” she muttered. “Can I leave now?”
Noticing that Sterling had loosened his grip on her arm, she took swift advantage and turned to stalk away but he was faster, reasserting his hold on her.
“I’ll gladly give you my balls, Eliza. Just say the word. But you’ll get a whole hell of a lot more than my nuts. That I can guarantee.”
Horrified by the heat that instantly flared to life, curling in her groin and licking up her spine, she tried to jerk away from him again.
“Make you a deal,” Sterling said in a silky, bone-shivering, sexy voice. “Give me one dance and I’ll make your excuses to Gracie and you can leave with your secret intact. She’ll just be happy you came. I doubt she’s noticed much more than her new husband anyway,” he added wryly.
“No one is dancing!” she protested. “You don’t think Gracie”—not to mention every single one of her coworkers—“and the others wouldn’t see us and know I was here, never said hi or made my presence known and then, oh gee, I had to leave. You’re out of your damn mind.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. Come on. I’ll take you to Gracie then, so you can offer your hellos to your team and congratulations to Gracie.”
She went rigid. “You little blackmailing bastard.”
He shrugged again, making her want to scream. Did nothing ever ruffle him? What did it take to really piss off a man who rarely looked anything beyond mildly annoyed or more commonly like he didn’t give a fuck?
“I gave you options,” he pointed out. “That’s hardly blackmail. The choice is yours. I thought I was doing you a favor but since you don’t seem inclined to accept my offer then we’ll carry on and you can remain until the bitter end. But fair warning, word is after the showing your posse is having a post exhibit celebratory dinner and if you’re here you’ll be expected to attend.”
She couldn’t control the panicked, deer-in-the-headlights look she knew flashed on her face and it only served to further annoy the fuck out of her that he could always get a rise out of her when her emotions and reactions were always tightly under control. They had to be in her line of work.
“I’m taking that as a yes to the dance,” Sterling said with smug satisfaction.
“Asshole,” she muttered.
In a show of unexpected—and rare—consideration, he propelled her to the far end of the room where the band was playing and there she found she was incorrect about no one else dancing. Why that relieved her she wasn’t sure but then she hardly wanted all eyes on her and Sterling if they were the only ones dancing.
Wordlessly he pulled her into his arms and though she attempted to keep him at arm’s length so their dance was entirely casual, he ignored that just like he ignored everything else about her unless it suited his purposes.
She found herself locked against a very hard, very aggressive, aroused male.
Ignoring that particular fact, although that was kind of difficult when she could feel the imprint of his cock, the heat and urgency through his slacks and the sheer material of her dress. It throbbed against her belly and freaked the hell out of her. Wade Sterling turned on by her? Or because of her. Or with her. Whatever the hell it was. Maybe he was one of those guys who thrived on adversity and got turned on at inappropriate times. Or maybe it had nothing to do with her at all. Maybe any female would do or maybe he just hadn’t got laid in a while. And then she nearly snorted at that idea. This was a man who only had to crook his finger to have his choice of pussy.
Swallowing the knot that had