Conrad valued accuracy.
And either way, Erika would end up with a hole punched straight through her.
There was absolutely no way that she could march up to him, make herself vulnerable and expose herself before that piercing blue stare of his.
The very idea made her want to curl up and die. Here and now.
She whirled around, thinking she would just grab her coat, call a car and leave all of this behind her—
But she slammed into a wall.
Except it wasn’t a wall, she realized as two hands caught her shoulders, and she tipped her head back to look up acres of broad chest packed into black tie.
It was Dorian.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“AREYOUGOINGSOMEWHERE, Erika?” he asked, his voice a dark, amused rumble, and with that dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Surely not.”
And Erika...burst into flames.
She hadn’t seen him since Berlin, and she’d thought his voice on the phone was too much. But this...
She couldn’t hold his commanding gaze. Her whole body was a mass of flame and desire, that swamping, impossible need, and something that felt like shame. But it was much darker and less destructive than that, and somehow connected directly to that pulsing greed in her pussy.
Erika hated that they were both dressed in all theseclothes. She yearned for the simplicity of his penthouse in Berlin, all those modern edges. And the quiet reality of her nakedness before his demands.
She could see those days laid out before her like a tableau. Like a fantasy. Like a wish made real, though she’d already experienced it.
God, how she wished she could go back.
Wasn’t that what the past two weeks had been about? Hating and wishing and wanting, desperate to be in his presence again—
And now she was.
And it was here, at Conrad and Jenny’s engagement party. Where he wanted her to do this thing that would break her in half. She knew it would. It would destroy her, and if she was destroyed, she could never, ever go back. She could never have Berlin again.
She could never havehimagain.
Erika felt his fingers on her chin, and then he tipped it up, forcing her to meet that dark, simmering gaze of his. She quivered. And thought she saw the hint of a smile.
“You look beautiful, kitten,” he said quietly. “More than beautiful. You look like who you are.”
That made her feel more than simply hot all over. It made her want to sigh, maybe. And lean into him. And it felt as if she already had.
“My mother disagrees,” she said, concentrating on his strong fingers pressing into her chin. “Demure clothing like this is for very beautiful women or very clever ones. Dumb whores like me need to put on a show. Tits and ass, presumably.”
She wasn’t sure why she’d said such things to a man who had, until recently, been the most likely to agree with Chriszette’s take on her. Until she saw his temper flash across his face, and not at her.
“Your mother is a very small, very jealous woman.” Dorian’s brow rose, and Erika was conditioned now. She felt the blaze of it go through her, settling heavily in her oversensitive clit. Her nipples ached for his mouth. Shehurtfor him. There was no other way to put it. She already hurt for him, and she would hurt more if he wanted, because the pain was a blessing. It made everything bloom. Especially her. “And I thought we covered this already. The only opinion you need to consider is mine.”
“I can’t do it,” she said breathlessly. “I can’t apologize to him. You don’t understand.”
“I do understand.” He was unyielding and it made her melt even as it made her stomach twist again. “I never told you it would be easy, little one. I only told you that I expected you to do it.”
Misery slammed into her, another tidal wave she could do nothing to prevent. “I can’t.”
She expected him to look angry, but he didn’t. He looked only disappointed, which was worse. “That is a choice.”