The dress that Vali had picked out, or Elena had, was a gorgeous, midnight blue satin thing with straps that left my entire back exposed and a sweeping train dropping from the full skirt. It was an incredible fit for me, which made me suspect it wasn't one of Elena's hand me downs, as she was a fair bit shorter than I was.
Unfortunately, despite hunting just about everywhere, I couldn't find any underwear left out for me, so once again I was going commando. In normal situations, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but after the dream I had just had, and the state I had been left in, I really prayed this fabric wouldn't show any damp spots.
With impeccable timing, just as I slipped my feet into the matching midnight blue Jimmy Choos, also in my exact size, Vali reentered the room without any warning. Rude.
“Don't you ever knock?” My eyes narrowed at him in a scowl. My frustration, like so many other emotions, liked to manifest as peevishness.
“To enter my own bedroom? No. I don't.” He arched his eyebrow at me, and I glanced around me once again. That explains all the men's clothes.
“Fair enough,” I muttered, stalking out of the door, which he held open in a gentlemanly gesture. “So, what are we supposed to be doing until this escape happens?”
“Quiet,” he shushed me sharply. “There are far too many unfriendly ears in my home tonight. Here, you'll need this.” He held out a scrap of lace to me, and I took it gingerly.
“What…” Is it the missing underwear? “Oh, a mask. This is a masquerade party?” He just rolled his eyes at me, as if to say: no shit, Sherlock, I just handed you a mask.
Taking the hint to shut up, I tied the mask onto my face. As we approached the staircase, Vali pulled another cloth mask from his suit pocket and tied it onto his own face.
Damn that man was sexy.
“Just try your best to be the perfect party companion, yes?” he muttered, steering me down the staircase with a firm hand on my exposed lower back. Heat seemed to be radiating up from where our skin was touching, and I had to stop myself from leaning closer. God only knew what had gotten into me lately, but lusting after a murderer didn't seem like the sanest move I had ever made.
I cleared my throat and took a few quicker steps to dislodge his hand from my back. “And what do you expect your perfect party companion to do, exactly? What time is it anyway? It's still light outside.”
As we descended the staircase to the ground floor, I took a look around at the party below. It looked like no expense had been spared, which was in line with the rest of Vali's opulent house. When I had made my escape attempt out of the window earlier, all I had seen was his bedroom and the library he’d dragged me back into. On the opposite side of the house from his room, the side away from the cliff, it was a literal sprawling mansion like you'd see on MTV's Cribs.
The party was situated through a marble-floored lounge area and out onto a patio surrounding an outdoor heated pool, and the late afternoon sun was casting a beautiful, golden glow over everything.
“It’s about… four thirty or so. Sun is about to set.” The warmth in his voice had me glancing up, and I found him gazing at the horizon. “I love this time of day. It looks like the whole world is on fire.”
Once again, the strange feeling of familiarity struck me, stronger now that he wore a mask and his eyes were being isolated.
“Come on,” he said, breaking the train of thought I was chasing. “We need to drink, dance, be social. Please try to speak as little as possible, and you'll be home to Wes before you know it.” He twitched a tiny grin at me, and I blushed red, suddenly thankful for the mask I was wearing.
Cannot believe he walked in on that. Despite my embarrassment, the reminder made my thighs clench and my nipples harden against the thin fabric of my dress.
A sharply dressed waiter holding a tray of full champagne flutes floated over to us, and Vali reached across me to grab two. It was no coincidence, I was sure, that his jacketed arm brushed across my chest where the fabric was noticeably raised. Bastard.
After hours of smiling politely and biting my lip to keep quiet—around the time midnight was approaching—my feet felt like they were about to fall off and I was just a little bit tipsy. More than once I had used the drink in my hand as a tactic to keep from running my mouth at some of the disgusting, sexist, and downright rude things that some of these men had said to me. It hadn’t taken long to figure out that these partygoers were not the most upstanding citizens of society.
Luckily my body seemed to be metabolizing the alcohol at lightening pace, so even after seven straight hours of champagne top-offs, I still had my wits about me.
“Are you ready?” Vali murmured into my ear as the DJ called over the mic for everyone to grab a fresh drink. His lips brushed against my lobe, his warm breath fanning across my neck, and I knew my skin was breaking out in gooseflesh.
“Of course. Let’s get the hell out of this place. Such a dump.” I turned my nose up jokingly at his lovely mansion, and he snickered. He had been a surprisingly pleasant date all evening.
“Let's move then.” He winked at me with one of his gorgeously familiar eyes and grabbed my hand, leading me through the crowded dance floor of drunk people dripping in jewels.
All of a sudden he stopped, and I stumbled. My momentum in the stiletto heels pushed me forward, and he caught me against his broad chest.
“What—” I gasped, but he cut my confused question off, grabbing the back of my head with one massive hand and crushing his mouth to mine. I froze. My eyes wide and staring straight into his, which were equally wide. His other hand gave me a sharp, subtle pinch on the waist, and I got the message. Someone was watching us that required a show of the submissive little slave he had just purchased.
My eyelids dropped closed because kissing someone with my eyes open was just downright creepy, and I felt his hand smooth over the spot he had just pinched, then continue around to my back and down to grab my ass like some sort of caveman staking his claim. My natural instinct was to slap him, but I forced myself to relax as I wound my arms around his neck. I couldn’t resist giving him a subtle warning by sinking my fingernails a bit deep into the soft flesh behind his ear.
He laughed against my mouth, the bastard, then used his lips to pry mine apart, deepening our kiss to something definitely no longer fit for public. Despite my best efforts to remain detached, my body was responding. Dampness slicked my thighs, and a girly moan escaped my throat as he dominated me.
Time seemed to slip away as we embraced, but we both broke apart suddenly when the midnight countdown began. Everyone around us yelled out the numbers with the DJ, and Vali quickly glanced over my shoulder, then grabbed my hand once more and took off out of the room at a pace just short of running.