Chapter 6: Blood on Silk
333 Words
The coat closet smelled like cedar and expensive lies.
Damien’s body pinned hers to mink and cashmere. Not touching. Not yet. Just close enough that his breath stirred the hair at her temple.
“You lied to that entire room,” he said. Voice low. Dangerous. “On one knee? In the rain?”
Eliana tilted her chin up. Defiant, even with her pulse hammering. “You lied first. ‘My wife. She’ll be observing.’ I’m not your decoration, Damien.”
His hand shot up, bracing beside her head. The door rattled. “No,” he agreed.
“You’re a problem.”
“Then solve me.”
The words left her mouth before her brain caught up. A dare. A surrender.
Damien’s eyes dropped to her lips. To the red silk stretched across her chest. His jaw worked. “You want a war, Eliana?”
“I want respect.”
“You want me.”
She didn’t deny it. Couldn’t. Not with his thigh pressing between hers, not with the way his tie was already loosened like
he’d been fighting himself all night.
The doorknob twisted. Someone laughed outside.
Damien didn’t move. “Tell me to stop.”
Eliana’s hands fisted in his lapels. “I said wear red. I didn’t say stop."
His mouth crashed into hers.
It wasn’t kissing. It was battle. Teeth and tongue tasted like blood and champagne. His hands were in her hair. Her nails were in his back. The red dress slid higher.
“Damien,” she gasped against his mouth.
He pulled back, forehead to hers. Breathing wrecked. “What?”
“Unlock the door.”
He stilled. “What?”
“If you want me,” she whispered, that
thumb brushing his swollen lower lip, “you do it where they can all see. Not in a closet. Not like I’m dirty.”
Silence. Then he laughed. Low. Unhinged.
“Mrs. Vance,” he said, straightening her strap with shaking fingers, “you just won
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