Dmitry: She is.
TheRen: Unacceptable.
“Agreed.”
The spoken word made her startle and clutch her phone to her chest. She spun around in her chair, almost bumping her knees into the man behind her. The broad, beautiful tux-wearing man behind her. Warmth rushed through her. “Hayes.”
He put out his hand, green eyes sparkling. “My girl should never be left alone at boring work things.”
She took his hand and let
him pull her to her feet. His gaze slid over her with slow, appreciative heat.
“You like?” she asked.
“I like. Spin around.” His voice had dropped a register, husky. That sexy tone he got when he slid into dom mode. “Let me see all of you.”
Slowly, she turned around, letting him see the backless state of the jumpsuit. He put a hand on her shoulder to pause her spin and then dragged his knuckles lightly over her spine, sending goose bumps over her skin.
“Damn. No wonder you didn’t let us see you before you left. You never would’ve made it out the door with that in one piece.” He turned her back to face him, illicit promise in his gaze. “You might not make it now.”
She smiled, her skin growing warm and sensitive from the way he was devouring her with his eyes. She put her hands to his chest under his jacket. “You look damn fuckable yourself.”
“You say the most romantic things,” he said with a sly grin.
She pushed up on her toes and pressed her mouth to his. It’d become so easy with him and Ren, so natural. She didn’t care that her co-workers might be looking her way—or her mother for that matter. Let ’em look. She was kissing that guy who’d gone to prison. So what. She loved that guy.
But when Hayes clasped her waist and she felt herself taking the kiss to a more heated place, she had to reel it in. This was still a work event even if her body suddenly had no qualms about that. “You’re going to get me in trouble looking this tempting. Stop being so irresistible.”
“I’ll try, but no promises.” He brushed a hair away from her face. “Wanna dance?”
She licked her lips, still tasting him there. “Not really.”
“Wanna drink?”
“Nope.”
“What do you want to do?”
“How about get the hell out of here?”
He lifted a brow. “You sure? I didn’t show up to try to rush you out.”
“I’ve done what I needed to do here. I even managed to mingle a bit. But I think I’ve hit my socializing limit. I’d rather join my party of three instead.”
“You’re definitely not going to hear any complaints from me on that. Let’s go.” He lifted his phone to type something, probably to let Ren know they were on their way home, and then took her hand. She grabbed her purse, dropping her phone inside.
She didn’t bother saying good-bye to anyone. Hayes had sat down with her mother and had a long conversation after everything had happened. They were on good terms. But she knew being around a bunch of cops was still uncomfortable for Hayes. So she let him lead her through the crowd, under the sparkling chandeliers, and behind the bar on the far side of the room.
She peered over her shoulder when she realized which way they were headed. “Where are we going? The door to outside is that way.”
“You go where we tell you.”
“We?”
“Yep.” He tugged her into an alcove off the main ballroom and then they slipped through a half-opened door.
Cora squinted in the low light. A coatroom, but there were no coats in this weather. It was just rods and shadowed darkness. For a moment, she felt like the naive girl in a horror movie. This looked like the place where monsters hung out. But before she could get her bearings or question Hayes, an arm clamped around her waist from behind. She automatically yelped, but it got caught in her throat.