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What the fuck had Joseph sent me here for, if this was already arranged?
I grabbed my glass of whiskey, furious, and then looked up to find a set of green eyes watching me.
Green eyes full of magic, belonging to the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.
And something insane and overwhelming came over me. I couldn’t explain it, even in the moments before my brain quit on me. I felt as if I’d known her for years and yet didn’t know her name. As if she was the one thing I’d always been searching for.
She was the golden jewel I’d come to find. I just hadn’t known about it.
My brain grew foggy, my thoughts indistinct, and I started walking toward her, drawn like a moth to a flame. I forgot about Antony Angelis and Joseph having set me up. None of that mattered. I wanted to know who the girl was and what she could do for me.
And really, my last thought told me quietly, the mission was already accomplished, right? Antony Angelis had agreed to an alliance. Which left me free to pursue a girl whose eyes were glowing, just for me.
When I tried to give my brain room to argue, I heard nothing but silence.
Chapter 4
natasha
The man with the gray eyes was calling to me.
I’d seen him prowling around the party like he owned the place, his eyes darting from one person to the next as if he was looking for someone. He and his enormous friend had gone to the bar for a drink, then turned and scanned the room, though they were obviously much different people. The large man had kind eyes despite the gun on his hip, his mouth turning up every so often at something he was thinking.
That man, I was sure, had a good heart. He was the sort of man who gave other people a chance to explain themselves before jumping to any conclusions.
His companion, though—the man with the gray eyes—was fire and intensity, every move packed with intention. He was coiled as tightly as a large cat, his body graceful and yet threatening. That man didn’t trust anyone. He shot before asking questions, and I would bet he’d defend those he loved to the death. Fathomless eyes, dark hair, and stubble on his square jaw. Broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist and...
I snapped my eyes back to his face, half horrified and half intrigued at where they’d been headed. What was I doing? That was a human man, and if my instincts were correct—which they always were—a dangerous one. I was here on a mission to find a certain man and figure out how to bag him.
Then again.
I smiled softly to myself, wondering. I was at this party to meet people and make contacts as well. Antony himself had told me to mingle with the crowd until I located our target. And that man over there was part of the crowd.
A part I desperately wanted to get closer to. And that desperation ran deeper than just my conscious thought. My body was humming with it, the blood in my veins running so hot I wondered how much longer I could stand still. I’d never felt anything like it... but I’d also never maintained human form for this long. Was this what they called lust? The physicality of it made me breathless, the desperate need to move driving my thoughts. I needed to get closer.
Feel him.
Breathe him in like some sort of drug.
Right. Mixing with the crowd it was.
I shoved off the wall and began walking toward him, circling the people in the crowd and setting a path toward the bar. The man moved as well, sliding to his right and away from me. When I looked over, though, his eyes were pinned to my face, the gray nearly glowing with its intensity. I tipped my head, signaling that I saw him, and caught the glimmer of a smile on his lips.
Every hair on my body stood up, ready to engage.
I turned my eyes back toward the bar and kept to my path, his gaze dancing along my skin like a hot mist. When I glanced back to where he’d been, he’d disappeared... only to come into view again when another man moved onto the dance floor.
Another smile. Another nod. And then we both moved once more.
When I reached the bar, he’d disappeared again, and I felt a moment of pure loss. I glanced around the room, my senses reaching out to find him, but couldn’t see where he might have gone. The dance floor was more crowded now, people swaying softly to the rhythm of the music, and I couldn’t see to the other side of the room. I took a step to the right, then another...
And suddenly a path opened in front of me, the dancers moving to the side as though they’d been ordered to do so. And there, ten feet from me, was the man with the gray eyes. He looked down at the open path in front of us, then back at me, and took a hesitant step into the opening. The next step was more sure, and the third was determined.
It took him only thirty seconds to get to me.
He didn’t say anything, but slid his hands around my waist and tipped his head toward the dance floor. I nodded once and that was all it took for him to pull me into the swirling mass of humanity, his hands sliding around my back to grasp me firmly as we began to move together. When he pulled me to him, I gasped. The man was aflame with heat, his fingertips burning through my thin dress as he dragged me ever closer. My body, which I’d just begun to know as my own, suddenly became alien again. My blood was mercury in my veins. My skin buzzed and my lungs didn’t seem to be working correctly. I was breathing but not getting enough oxygen, my head growing fuzzy and vague.
Here for a mission, I reminded myself. I was here to do something important. This man was nothing but a distraction.
