VOLUME 2
I follow him into the backseat of the car and slide across the bench. He slips in behind me and slams the door. My heart races harder, faster, as my breathing becomes too ragged. It’s hard to feign confidence when Sean can see what he does to me.
When I glance up at him, wondering what he wants to say, I force my spine straight and relax the muscles in my face. Sean hasn’t glanced away from me since he slammed into me coming out of Club Noir. The way his brows rest slightly lifted on his beautiful face makes me want to reach out and touch him. But I don’t. I remain still with my hands folded neatly in my lap.
I glance past Sean and see the driver standing outside the car as if waiting for something. Before I know what’s happening, Sean’s warm hand is on my chin, redirecting my face so that my gaze meets his. My chest fills with too many emotions at once. The attraction is intense and being this close is like holding two magnets together, but not allowing them to touch. The pull becomes more pronounced, and all those feelings continue to rise. I want to lean into his hand and press my lips to his.
While my control flies away into the night, Sean’s remains completely intact. He tips my face one way and then the other as if he were examining livestock.
I jerk away and frown. “I’m not a horse.”
“No one said you were.”
“What do you want, Mr. Ferro? I have places to be and this—as lovely as it is—wasn’t among my plans for the evening.” My tone is curt, irritated. It’s the only way I can hide the firestorm of emotions burning through me.
“Really? Weren't you coming to take part in Club Noir? Find a partner? Fuck your troubles away?”
I reach for the door, intending on leaving without responding. Sean moves quickly, taking me by my shoulders and twisting me back toward him. He doesn’t wait for me to say anything. Before I know what’s happening, he’s in my space, within a breath of me. He stays there, watching my lips, letting the pull between us build.
My insides twist and, I can’t help it, a small gasp escapes from between my lips. It’s as if that was what he wanted, because he closes the distance between us and presses his mouth to mine. His lips are soft and perfect as he lingers in a chaste kiss, barely touching me. The result is intense. Desire shoots through my body like a bolt of lightning, making me want to do everything all at once.
I’m losing control. That’s worrisome and exciting. It’s like standing on the top of a lightning rod and waving a metal rake around during a storm. It’s not a matter of if I’ll get struck—it’s inevitable.
When Sean is involved, every ounce of control I possess vanishes. I see it now, and it scares me. Something is very wrong with this situation, and it’s not just that I’m part of the team trying to throw his ass in jail—we’re enemies. He should hate me, but this kiss says something else entirely. A jolt of reality pours down my spine like ice.
Breathless, I wriggle away and stare at him with an intensity I normally hide. Two worlds are colliding in my mind. Reality and Club Noir. Normally, they exist separately. They don’t converge. Hell, they don’t even touch. I find it difficult to believe that this meeting is an accident, that Sean Ferro is only searching for solace at Club Noir.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, still mere inches away from him. “You know as well as I do this isn’t possible.”
Sean's expression is placid, all smoothness, as if the kiss left him unbothered, unaffected. “Go on. Say what’s on your mind.” Those eyes reveal too much. As I look into them, I fall deeper and deeper. I sense his excitement and the worry that barely pinches his brow. I can taste the disappointment building in the back of his mouth. I can feel the way his walls become thicker by the second, as if building an impenetrable keep inside a fortress to conceal his heart forever.
But right now,