But second, because she was nothing like the leather jacket and Chucks-wearing woman I’d first run into.
A couple of blinks, though, proved to me that this was, in fact, the very same Shawn that I’d saved from Adams’s guards, had hidden in my trunk, had flown across the world, and had spent some very intimate moments with.
This was just a very elegant version of her.
Her silky black hair was left loose, but had a little more wave to it than was natural to her. It fell over her bare shoulders and mostly exposed back. Her gown was a deep red silk that complemented her coloring. It skirted the floor, showing off the hints of icepick heels, and had this criss-cross over the skin of her back that created a peek-a-boo effect that I found it hard to look away from.
The only reason I managed was because I wanted to look at her face.
She hadn’t worn any makeup in the Maldives, but the night of the shooting, she’d had on mascara and liner in a somewhat chunky fashion that matched her sort of badass-chick-style. She had them on at the gala too, but in a more understated way, and paired with a red lipstick.
She had graduating circle diamond earrings dangling from her ears, each cluster seeming to move independently of the others, making them catch the light anytime she moved her head around. No necklace. No rings. No bracelets. Which made the diamonds stand out all the more.
I was so fixated on her for so long that I missed that she was standing next to a man.
He was tall and slim in an expensive suit with a pricey watch strapped to his wrist. And, objectively, the man was good-looking. Even if a part of me hated to admit that.
Jealousy—new and foreign—surged through my system.
I almost didn’t recognize it for what it was at first.
I couldn’t think of a single instance in my life that I’d ever felt jealousy when it came to a woman or whichever man she decided to be with.
Women had always just been a good time for me. Light. Easy. Nothing that got too sticky or too complicated.
I’d watched my co-worker Lincoln go in and out of relationship after relationship with a sort of detached bewilderment, never understanding why he bothered with the commitment factor when it always ended up being temporary anyway.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t been raised to think about a wife and children. Heirs were very important, after all. I guess I just figured I had time. I’d lost years of my life in a really dark place. I thought I deserved a lot of light and warm and fun after that.
There was always time for serious sometime down the road.
But because I’d never wanted anything serious, I wasn’t familiar with the whole phenomenon of being upset when a woman you found appealing was with another man.
It was more than just finding her appealing, though.
If that was the case, I would have gotten her out of my system when we’d had sex.
I was into more than just the chemistry between us.
I was into her.
I wouldn’t call that strange in and of itself. There were a great many women I’d found interesting and intriguing in my life. Hell, I worked with several of them.
The difference was, I’d never been both attracted to and intrigued by a woman at the same time. Yes, objectively, Miller, Nia, Jules, and Amita were all knockouts. And when I first met them, I’d been attracted. But the more I got to know them, the more that shifted to a friendship sort of situation. The attraction fell away and the intrigue and affection grew.
For me, those things had always been separate.
I’d never found the attraction and the interest and the affection all in one place.
It was hard to deny, though, that I was starting to have hints of all three of those for Shawn.
So that explained the churning sensation in my stomach as she looked toward the man beside her and let out a laugh, her smile lighting up her face.
He looked down at her with plain affection as well.
I didn’t understand all her cracks about my wealth, though, if she was dating a man who ran in the same circles I did.
Maybe it was as simple as the number of commas in his bottom line compared to mine. Sometimes, people were okay with wealth, but not the ultra-wealthy.
I did know one thing, though.
She couldn’t have been that into him if she fucked me in the Maldives.
Something bubbled up inside me, connected to the jealousy, but a sensation all its own.
Challenge, I guess.
Like a young ram ready to bump heads with the older one for the attention of a female.
Taking a deep breath, I put down my flute of champagne and grabbed two fresh ones before making my way in the direction of her little gathering.