“Excuse me?” I growled, clenching the rocks glass.
“You heard me, but I’ll spell it out.” She stepped toward me, her big brown eyes locked on mine as she touched the silver pendant around her neck. “You’re exactly what I need tonight. Why don’t we go back to your place?”
The rocks glass shattered in my hand.
Her lips curved into a grin. “Been a while, has it?”
I stepped closer to her, intentionally putting myself in her space. “I don’t know who you think you are princess—”
“I already said, I’m Belle. And I’m certain I have exactly what you need.”
I laughed in her face. “I highly doubt that. Go play with the other socialites. I’m here for business.”
She smiled at me, a smile that probably opened a lot of doors for her, probably turned men into piles of goo. She had a magnetism, an air of overt sexuality about her that I wasn’t ashamed to admit, had my cock’s attention. And she was gorgeous. Long hair, big brown eyes, and the rack on her, hell, I could see myself getting lost in there. But I wouldn’t risk it. I wouldn’t be laughed at or looked at like I was a monster again. I wouldn’t give in to her.
She reached up, grabbed me by the neck and pulled me down to her level. “I know what you are,” she said in my ear.
I ripped myself out of her grasp. “You know nothing about me,” I said, jaw clenched, fists balled, and left the ballroom as fast as I could.
Chapter Three
Belle
What the hell was that?
The man whose pants I desperately wanted in nearly ran away from me. A few years ago I would have assumed it was me, certain that I’d done something to turn him off, or that I was unworthy of his attention in some way. Now I knew better.
It could only be one thing.
He hadn’t come to terms with his proclivities—yet.
If that were the case then it was a crying shame. I knew he was a hard Dom just by the way he carried himself. He threw off alpha vibes like nothing I’d ever felt before, but then I’d always been into the scene. I knew what to look for. If he didn’t know there were others like him… and still others that liked being dominated—
He probably felt like a monster.
I followed him which wasn’t hard since he towered over the other guests. He exited the ballroom through a door that led to one of my favorite places in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The library.
I ducked into the grand room and surveyed the stacks for my conquest’s massive frame. But I didn’t see him anywhere. Where was he? I saw him come in, he had to be—
“Oooooh!” I yelled as he stepped from between two stacks and pinned me against a shelf before I knew what happened. Hard body pressed against mine and a darkness in his eyes I couldn’t get enough of.
“Is this what you want?” he roared in my face.
Cheeks hot with lust and dizzy from the sudden burst of adrenaline I looked directly at him. “Yes,” I said simply.
I’ll never forget the look on his face. His eyes widened, then narrowed in disbelief. “No,” he said firmly. “It’s not.” He put me back on the ground—I hadn’t noticed my feet were off the ground—and walked away.
“Hey!!” I yelled to his back. “Where do you think you’re going?”
He didn’t respond, just lumbered toward the exit.
He wasn’t getting away from me that easy. I reached behind me, grabbed a book from the shelf and chucked it at his head.
The book thudded against his skull. He spun on his heel and towered over me in one giant stride. “Listen, I don’t know what your deal is—”
“I know exactly what yours is,” I interrupted. I was tired of the foreplay. I wanted the action.
He looked down at me and sighed, whiskey scented breath grazing my cheeks and bemused annoyance playing with his gorgeous features. “Is that so?”