After hours of talking to people, I feel like I can finally breathe again. My temples still throb from overstimulation, but the ache has lessened drastically.
Iris jumps onto a washing machine and uses the lid as a seat. “Tonight has been…”
“Excruciating,” I finish for her.
She nods. “If this is the dinner party, I can only imagine how the wedding will go.”
“You’re the one who wanted a big wedding.”
“Only because my mother would kill me for excluding her.”
“Then let’s elope and invite her along. She can be our sole witness.” The statement bursts out of me faster than I can kill it.
Her laugh dies when she catches the look on my face. “You’re serious.”
I nod, liking the idea more by the second. “We could spin it as a whirlwind idea. I could have us in Vegas in four hours or less.”
“We did not go through all this pain to give up right before the finish line.”
“It’s not giving up. It’s changing routes.”
She presses her hand against her mouth to muffle her laughter. Her obvious denial of my idea makes me bolder, and I refuse to take her no as a final answer.
I encroach on her space, trapping her against the washing machine. Her eyes get a wild look in them as I step between her legs. The material of her long dress stretches enough to accommodate my size.
I grab her chin, forcing her to look up at me. “Think about it. You, me, and a drive-thru chapel. No press. No frills. No expectations.”
“The pinnacle of romance,” she replies with a dry voice.
My thumb clutching onto her chin presses a bit harder. “I’ll throw in another hundred million to make it happen.”
She breaks free of my hold as her head drops back. The laugh she unleashes does something abnormal to my heart rate, the steady beat turning erratic.
“No amount of money can change my mind seeing as my mother would kill me before I have a chance to enjoy it.”
My disappointed sigh makes her smile.
She gives my chest a reassuring pat. “If it’s any consolation, I hate the idea just as much as you.” Her palm burns a hole straight through my chest, directly above my heart.
Her lashes flutter as she blinks up at me, and my attention is split between staring into her eyes and looking down at her lips. Being this close to her does something catastrophic to my self-restraint. I’m not sure whether it’s the lack of human contact I’ve had or desiring something forbidden, but I keep being drawn to her.
“Did you leave the light on in the supply closet again? What did I tell you about wasting electricity?” The knob jangles, and Iris’s eyes widen as she looks at me.
“Tell me you locked—”
Iris’s hands sink into my hair as she shoves my head to the side. Her lips press against my neck, setting the blood in my veins on fire. She locks her legs around my waist and pulls me closer. Blood rushes from my head to my dick as Iris leaves a trail of kisses down my neck.
Keys rattle against one another as the doorknob twists. Light pours into the room as a couple of servers stare at us with open mouths.
One of them steps up. “I’m sorry—”
“Leave,” I lash out.
Iris chuckles against my skin, and I feel the sound straight to my cock. Her laugh is a powerful aphrodisiac I don’t have any business relishing in.
The door slams. Iris shoves me away before slipping off the washer. “Well, wasn’t that fun?”
My slacks seem to tighten as I consider just how muchfunthat was.