“It won’t kill you to go out on a date. Just one! I’m telling you, finding the right woman, starting a family with her…there’s nothing like it. I mean, you already know this, but it kills me to think that you might spend the rest of your life alone, Noah.”
“Uh-huh.”
Finn was still going on, bless his heart, but my attention was totally captured by the woman. She stepped through the crowd, her hips swaying, her curves enough to make my cock move in my tuxedo pants.
I wanted her like mad.
The feeling of wanting was overwhelming. I scanned my memory, trying to come up with the last time I’d felt this way about anyone. I couldn’t – aside from Saoirse, that is.
She chatted here and there with some of the guests, not showing the slightest bit of apprehension or fear in striking up a conversation with the elite attending the party.
It was almost hypnotic to watch her. She moved slowly, but purposefully like she wasn’t in any kind of hurry. Her warm, genuine smile lit up her gorgeous features as she spoke.
Finn went on. “I know it sounds hard and you feel like you’re abandoning Saoirse. But I’m telling you – no one is going to think that. Then again, you’ve always been the type of man to do whatever you want, regardless of what anyone else thinks. All the same…”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. My inclination to leave the party and go home had vanished. All I wanted now was to speak to her, whoever she was. I took a sip of my drink and prepared to break away from Finn.
Before I got the chance, however, a man stepped out of the crowd and approached her. Her face sank as soon as she laid eyes on him. The man moved in, cutting the distance between the two of them and speaking closely in her ear.
It was clear she didn’t want anything to do with this man. She turned her body in an attempt to move away from him, but he didn’t let her. Instead, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull her hand back, but it was no use.
The back of my neck went aflame, my blood pulsing hard.
“Anyway,” Finn said, “just give it a bloody shot. What’s the worst—”
“Be right back.”
“Huh?”
I didn’t stick around to answer him. Instead, I casually strode toward the couple. It took a little weaving through the crowd until I was close enough to hear them talk.
“Seriously, Tyler,” she said. “You’re not getting the hint.” There was no fear in her voice. The man might’ve had her by the wrist, but she wasn’t scared.
“You’re being a tease,” the man said. “It’s so obvious.”
I stopped when I was right next to them. The woman’s gaze broke from the man, her eyes latching onto me, surprise washing over her face. The man turned to me too, irritation visible on the portion of his face that wasn’t covered by the mask.
“Everything alright?” I calmly asked.
The woman opened her mouth to speak, but the man beat her to it.
“Get out of here, asshole – this is none of your business.”
I folded my arms over my chest.
“It is now.”