The Billionaire Gets His Way by Elizabeth Bevarly Page A

room that you said need to see us together?” she asked, stalling.
    â€œThey’ll be here all night. There’s plenty of time.” He settled his hand confidently at the center of her back, then swallowed her hand in his. Man, he had big hands. “Besides,” he added as he pulled her closer, “I don’t want them to see me with someone who doesn’t even know how to dance.”
    Right. Of course not. Here she’d been thinking maybe he had actually taken pity on her and wanted her to feel more comfortable by showing her some of the high society ropes. Hah.
    â€œPut your left hand on my shoulder.”
    She lifted her hand to do so, but hesitated before touching him. She was suddenly aware of how close they were standing, closer, even, than they’d been when he’d towered over her at his office. As had happened then, theair around them grew warmer, and the clean, spicy scent of him assailed her. She noted the lean, rugged line of his jaw and the finely honed cheekbones, the pale blue eyes fringed with jet lashes. As had happened then, her heart began to beat faster, and her thinking grew foggy, and the entire world seemed to shrink until it was only the two of them.
    â€œViolet,” he said, his voice dropping even lower than before. “Put your hand on my shoulder.”
    After another small hesitation, she gingerly curved her hand over his shoulder. The fabric of the jacket was fine and smooth beneath her palm, and she fancied she could feel the heat of his skin seeping through it. Of course, it was her imagination. The man would have to be very warm indeed for it to penetrate layers of clothing. Then again, she was feeling more than a little warm herself…
    â€œNow, do what I do,” he said. “Take one step forward.”
    She stepped forward, then belatedly realized he’d meant that he was going to take a step forward, and she should follow him by taking a step back. The result was that the two of them pressed together even more closely, something that made Violet fancy she could feel even more heat emanating from him, and from a lot more than just his shoulder. She was already getting ready to defend herself against what she knew would be his charge that she should have realized what he meant—once her mouth stopped being so dry at the heat and nearness of him, she meant—but instead, he chuckled and muttered a soft apology.
    An apology. From Gavin Mason.
    â€œOkay, look,” he said, his voice gentling. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, and you follow, all right?”
    Okay, now this was just weird, Violet thought. What had happened to the prickly, demanding type-A blowhard who had brought her to the party? Had aliens swooped in whenshe wasn’t looking and replaced him with a pod person from outer space? And why was she complaining, anyway? A pod person would be way better company than Gavin Mason.
    â€œAll right,” she said. “I’ll try.”
    He dipped his head forward in acknowledgement, something that brought his face closer to hers than ever. Violet willed herself not to flinch, knowing he would pull back in a second.
    But he didn’t. He kept his head dipped toward hers, almost until they were touching. “Now then,” he began again. “I’ll step forward….”
    He did so slowly, giving her plenty of time to follow him. So Violet took a tentative step backward.
    â€œGood,” he said. “Now bring the other leg to join the first.”
    She mimicked his action, trying not to notice how the movement of their legs against each other generated a delicious friction she felt in a lot more places than her leg.
    â€œNow I’ll step to my left…”
    Violet followed a little more confidently this time, moving her foot to her right.
    â€œNow I’m going to step backward…”
    Violet stepped forward at precisely the same time.
    â€œAnd now I’ll step