Over and over, my eyes were drawn to her seat until finally, she looked up and saw me. For several seconds, it felt as though no one else was in the room except us. At least until she turned away to focus on Morgan, who had won the Oscar.
While everyone around me was tittering about what was happening up on the stage between Morgan and my friend, Gage Ryan, my focus remained on the blonde bombshell.
I was just aware enough of what was going on around me to notice when something amazing happened during the speech, though. As Morgan was speaking, she thanked her best friend. I looked at the stage just in time to watch as she gestured to her in the audience as she spoke.
That was how I found out that the goddess in the green dress was named Allie.The moment the host threw to commercial after the best picture was announced, I got up and raced across the room. A slew of seat fillers arrived at the same time to fill the seats vacated around Allie, but I waved off the guy who was getting ready to sit next to her and instead slid into the seat myself. As I did, I gestured down to where Liam was sitting. “You can take my seat over there,” I told the filler.
The sound of the not-quite-silent laugh that came from the woman I’d been waiting to meet for hours sent a jolt of electricity down my spine. Fuck, she was something else. When I turned to face her, she met my gaze head on. She smelled fresh and delicious, a hint of something floral but nothing overpowering. Whatever it was, it suited her.
Her green eyes twinkled with mirth. “Do you often steal seats?” she asked, speaking softly so that no one was privy to our conversation.
I flashed her a grin and shrugged. “I’ve never had to do it before, but there’s a first time for everything, Allie.”
“It feels a bit like cheating that you got my name from listening to Morgan’s speech,” she said dryly.
“Proper introductions are in order then. It’s a pleasure to meet you…” I trailed off so that she could fill in the blanks.
“Allie Henderson.”
“Nice to meet you, Allie Henderson. Do you come here often?” I joked.
She shook her head. “It’s my first time, but never mind all that. You missed a step in the man-meets-woman-and-shows-interest dance. I didn’t catch your name.”
We both knew damn well that she knew what my name was, but her challenging me was sexy as fuck.
“I’m Vaughn Corbett.”
“Is this your first time here?” she asked cheekily.
I bit back a laugh. “I’ve been here a time or two before.”
I didn’t get to say anything else because we were told the show was about to start again. Looking forward, I willed the nights emcee to hurry his ass up so that I could turn all my attention to Allie.
The second the all-clear was given to let everyone in the audience know the cameras were no longer rolling, I stood and held my hand out to Allie. “Let me walk you to the Governor’s Ball.”
I planned to do a hell of a lot more than that, but a guy had to start somewhere. Allie hesitated for the briefest of seconds before she nodded and slid her hand into mine. I smiled as I glanced down and noted the way my large hand dwarfed hers. I’d never been turned on by a woman’s fucking hands before, but I couldn’t help envisioning what my cock would look like with her fingers wrapped around it. Her nails were natural, perfectly shaped, and painted shiny red. There was nothing fake or plastic about her. Her beauty was the real thing, and I planned to explore every inch of her.
Once again, I was entranced by the way she looked in her nearly-too-damn-sexy dress. The other thing was that I begrudged every motherfucker who saw her in it even though I’d never been a territorial man. Far from it, in fact. I hadn’t ever had a serious girlfriend because I avoided sharing too much about myself with people unless I really knew them. Most of the reasons for that were wrapped up in my shitty childhood, but I’d also never felt a need to claim anyone. Something about Allie— and her green dress with the plunging neckline and slit up the left that showed a ton of sexy-as-hell leg—brought the latent caveman traits that had laid dormant inside me to life.
“What do you do, Allie?” I asked as we began walking.
As she parted her lips to answer, someone behind me tapped me on the shoulder. Annoyed at the interruption, I turned to glare at whoever was biting into my time with Allie. Seeing that it was Kerri Anderson, I held back a string of curses. The girl was an unbelievably self-entitled brat with borderline stalker traits.