Page 20 of Duty

A crown in the middle of her chest.

Waves on her arm.

And so much more.

Damn, she was beautiful.

Her gaze drifted over the people slowly, and then finally, landed on Andino and where he sat with Nathaniel. He didn’t miss the slight widening of her eyes, or the way she hesitated in her next step.

Still, she kept moving.

She kept dancing.

And she kept looking back at him.

Well, damn.

• • •

Andino slipped into the back hallway when the security’s back was turned—although he was pretty sure the guy still saw him, anyway. It wasn’t like the guy could have missed how Andino followed the woman who got off the stage, and headed for the back.

He just caught sight of black hair slipping into the room at the far end of the hallway before he heard the door close behind her.

Shit.

What was that—a changing room, or something?

Andino was going to find out.

Not that he had any business to—or that he should. Because the answer to both of those were a big, fat no. It didn’t matter; he was still going to talk to the woman because he wanted to, and Andino wasn’t very damn good at denying himself things he wanted.

He blamed that on being an only child who had always been given whatever the hell he asked for, whenever the fuck he asked for it. Or, that was the excuse he chose to use when someone asked.

Andino quickly realized this hallway was not for changing rooms, or anything of the sort. He passed storage rooms, and an exit door that led out to a back alley. At the end, he found the door he had seen the woman disappear into just as he slipped into the hallway. He didn’t even think about it—he just knocked.

“Just a sec,” called a sweet, familiar voice.

Andino heard the click of heels approaching the door, and then it opened. It was like every fucking time he got a glimpse of this woman, something changed. Something made him blink, silenced him, and he had to take her in all over again.

Gone was the black hair from when she had been dancing on the stage, and back was the blonde with teal and purple streaks from the jogging trails. She’d tossed on a silk robe over the leather ensemble, but Andino still couldn’t control his fucking gaze from wandering all over.

Christ.

What was wrong with him?

“I figured you would follow me back here,” she said quietly.

Andino’s gaze jumped back up to meet the woman’s. “How did you know I was following you? I might have been coming to ask for the manager … or owner.”

Yeah, that worked.

Andino mentally patted himself on the back for managing to not look and sound like a complete fucking cafone. He certainly didn’t think this woman would appreciate him saying that yes, he followed her because … well, he didn’t really know why.

He wanted to.

That was it.

Kind of made him sound like a creep.