valet.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The sky was a gloomy blue-gray. I stared into evening light, taking in the decadent expanse of Derrick’s brick-paved driveway. It stretched the length of at least three football fields, looping underneath the white-columned portico of the house and returning to the serene tree-lined street. Flickering gas lit lamps cast a warm glow over the double door entrance. The opulent two-story foyer and the oversized ballroom resembled a hotel more than a private residence. For all its grandeur, something about it unsettled me. Maybe it was the ivy that curled up the side or the twin rows of pines that cast shadows on the driveway like guards ready to pounce on unwilling victims.
A tremor rippled down my spine. Not for the first time since Derrick walked into my life, I noted the disparity between his life and mine. We had the same father, but he had everything handed to him whereas I had to claw my way through life. I didn’t resent him for his inherited wealth, his success, or the relative ease of his life, but I couldn’t lie. My life would’ve been so much easier if my father had sprinkled a little fairy dust in my direction. I could’ve gone to college. My mom might’ve stuck around to raise Faith and me. I wouldn’t have worried when my uncle lost his job. I could’ve taken all the ballet lessons I wanted.
Sometimes, I wondered why my mom never pressed him for money. But more often, I wondered why he never offered. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I’d ever get the answers to those questions. Richard Benton died almost six months ago, and my mom had been gone so long she might as well have been dead too.
I shivered as a puff of cold air curled around my bare arms, goose bumps peppering every inch of exposed skin.
“Are you cold?” Knox said.
“I’ll be okay once I get in the car,” I answered, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.
“You might freeze to death before then.” He hooked his hands around my waist and pulled me against his warm muscled chest. Stunned, I stood motionless. “At a party this size, they need more than one person manning the valet,” he said, his warm breath whisked across my hair. My body softened, already traitorously drunk on the feel of his body against mine. What was it about this man?
I nodded absently, each sweeping brush of his thumb against my dress making me breathless in anticipation of his next move. I should’ve pushed him away, but I was incapable of doing the sensible thing. Voices trickled from the party. The front door opened and closed a few times, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything except the tightening of my breasts, the staccato beat of my heart and the rich scent of masculine cologne.
Before I could make sense of his actions or my reactions, he buried his cheek in the curve of my neck. “Did I tell you how much I like this dress? You’re beautiful,” he whispered, the stubble on his face brushing against my ear. The air hummed with electricity, sharpening the magnetic pull between us.
Temptation surged hard and fast through my veins, and I tipped my head to the side, inviting his touch even though my mind begged me to stop whatever this was before it went too far. God knew, I didn’t need to complicate my life any further. In fact, there were thousands of reasons why I shouldn’t get involved with Knox, even for a night or a moment. Then he caught my ear between in his teeth and nipped.
“Knox,” I muttered. “We shouldn’t—” My voice trailed off as his warm lips pressed against the curve of my shoulder, skating up my neck and across my jaw to the corner of my mouth. Thoughts of resisting evaporated like tendrils of smoke in the night.
He transfixed me.
He captivated me.
He held me hostage in a web of desire.
His lips paused near my mouth for a second, waiting for something. A sign? My capitulation? His dilated eyes stared into mine, and my insides knotted uncomfortably.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The sky was a gloomy blue-gray. I stared into evening light, taking in the decadent expanse of Derrick’s brick-paved driveway. It stretched the length of at least three football fields, looping underneath the white-columned portico of the house and returning to the serene tree-lined street. Flickering gas lit lamps cast a warm glow over the double door entrance. The opulent two-story foyer and the oversized ballroom resembled a hotel more than a private residence. For all its grandeur, something about it unsettled me. Maybe it was the ivy that curled up the side or the twin rows of pines that cast shadows on the driveway like guards ready to pounce on unwilling victims.
A tremor rippled down my spine. Not for the first time since Derrick walked into my life, I noted the disparity between his life and mine. We had the same father, but he had everything handed to him whereas I had to claw my way through life. I didn’t resent him for his inherited wealth, his success, or the relative ease of his life, but I couldn’t lie. My life would’ve been so much easier if my father had sprinkled a little fairy dust in my direction. I could’ve gone to college. My mom might’ve stuck around to raise Faith and me. I wouldn’t have worried when my uncle lost his job. I could’ve taken all the ballet lessons I wanted.
Sometimes, I wondered why my mom never pressed him for money. But more often, I wondered why he never offered. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I’d ever get the answers to those questions. Richard Benton died almost six months ago, and my mom had been gone so long she might as well have been dead too.
I shivered as a puff of cold air curled around my bare arms, goose bumps peppering every inch of exposed skin.
“Are you cold?” Knox said.
“I’ll be okay once I get in the car,” I answered, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.
“You might freeze to death before then.” He hooked his hands around my waist and pulled me against his warm muscled chest. Stunned, I stood motionless. “At a party this size, they need more than one person manning the valet,” he said, his warm breath whisked across my hair. My body softened, already traitorously drunk on the feel of his body against mine. What was it about this man?
I nodded absently, each sweeping brush of his thumb against my dress making me breathless in anticipation of his next move. I should’ve pushed him away, but I was incapable of doing the sensible thing. Voices trickled from the party. The front door opened and closed a few times, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything except the tightening of my breasts, the staccato beat of my heart and the rich scent of masculine cologne.
Before I could make sense of his actions or my reactions, he buried his cheek in the curve of my neck. “Did I tell you how much I like this dress? You’re beautiful,” he whispered, the stubble on his face brushing against my ear. The air hummed with electricity, sharpening the magnetic pull between us.
Temptation surged hard and fast through my veins, and I tipped my head to the side, inviting his touch even though my mind begged me to stop whatever this was before it went too far. God knew, I didn’t need to complicate my life any further. In fact, there were thousands of reasons why I shouldn’t get involved with Knox, even for a night or a moment. Then he caught my ear between in his teeth and nipped.
“Knox,” I muttered. “We shouldn’t—” My voice trailed off as his warm lips pressed against the curve of my shoulder, skating up my neck and across my jaw to the corner of my mouth. Thoughts of resisting evaporated like tendrils of smoke in the night.
He transfixed me.
He captivated me.
He held me hostage in a web of desire.
His lips paused near my mouth for a second, waiting for something. A sign? My capitulation? His dilated eyes stared into mine, and my insides knotted uncomfortably.
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