hand around my back, his rough palm landing on my bare skin as he pulled me into his arms, his other hand taking mine as the music started up.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked though I wasn't making any attempt to pull away as he moved me out into the crowd of dancers as a waltz was announced.
Unlike Dante, Darius clearly knew all of the steps and he led me around the floor with such confidence that it was easy for me to follow him and replicate them too.
"My father enjoys watching me suffer over you," he said, pulling me even closer so that our chests were touching. "So he won't have any objections. Especially once Mildred arrives and I'm forced to endure her company for the rest of the night. Besides, being in a crowd this big might buy us a few minutes from the stars."
I probably should have said more, but I didn't want to be anywhere else so I just gave in, letting him spin me around the ballroom like a fairy tale princess even though we both knew I wasn't anything of the sort.
We danced around and around, my skirt whirling around my ankles and our bodies pressing so close that I could feel the hard ridges of his muscles through his shirt and I grew breathless as the smoke and cedar scent of him drew me even closer.
My heart was thumping to a treacherous rhythm and I was glad he held me so tightly or I was almost certain everyone in the room would be able to see that I was anything but a shell of a girl when I was in his arms.
The music dipped and suddenly his hands were on my waist as he lifted me, spinning me in time with all the other dancers and placing me back on my feet with my body pressed to his.
"When did you learn to dance like this?" I asked him and he smirked at me as we swept over the wooden floor again, the steps so fast that I wasn't even certain how I was keeping up with him.
"Around about the same time as you learned to hotwire a bike," he teased. "Some of us were raised for this life."
"And some of us learned how to really live," I taunted back.
Darius's lips lifted in amusement and I was caught in his dark eyes as he directed us across the dance floor once more.
"Are you enjoying this?" he murmured.
"Yes," I breathed, unable to deny the way my heart was hammering against my ribcage and my skin was burning up everywhere that we were pressed together.
"So it feels good to let me take charge?" he pushed and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Don't go thinking you'll make a habit of it."
Darius leaned down so that his lips brushed my ear as he spoke his next words and a tremor ran right through me which I was sure he must have been able to feel too. "You'd love being dominated by me, Roxy," he promised. "I'd pin you down and make you scream so good you'd forget all about trying to stop me as I marked you as mine so thoroughly that you'd never doubt that it was true ever again."
A throb of need built in my core at his words and I wondered if he knew how much I wanted him to try that. I was aching for his touch on my flesh, my cheeks flushed and my panties wet as he held me almost tight enough to bruise.
But before I could give him an answer to that suggestion, a roar which sounded kind of like a pig going into battle with an angry sheep announced Mildred's arrival to the party. I flinched back out of Darius's arms as an explosion of vomit-yellow taffeta charged our way.
"Here I am snookums!" she cried as she launched herself into his arms, knocking me back and making me curse as I fought to steady myself in my heels. "No need to waste your time dancing with anyone else," she added, tossing a pointed look my way as she wrapped her arms around Darius possessively.
Everything in my being screamed at me to punch her stupid pug face and my muscles locked up as I fought to try and control my anger, cutting a glance towards Lionel on his throne.
He was watching us, his gaze on Darius and an amused smirk on his lips as I forced myself