Like an angel.

This girl is making me feel things I've never felt before, and my chest heaves.

I ball my hands into fists as I stare down at her, my jaw tight. I want to go down there and throw her over my shoulder and stomp away with her. Take her somewhere where no one can look at her but me. I want to both spank her little ass for showing so much skin and fall to her feet and worship her like she's my new religion.

“Hello?” Matt calls my attention back to him.

I snap my head up to look over at my head of PR, my scow fixed firmly back in place. I'm more irritated than ever that he pulled my attention away fromher.

“What the fuck is up with you man?” he asks, a puzzled look on his face. “Where did you go?”

“Nowhere.” I down the rest of my brandy before I turn and start heading for the door. “Well, let's get this shit over with,” I growl.

I feel him gaping at me, probably surprised that it didn't take more coaxing to get me to go down to the party. I can't really blame him. He usually has to spend much longer trying to convince me to do my duty as host.

What he doesn't know is the only reason I'm going down there at all is because I feel like I'll die if I don't find out who this girl is and what color her eyes are.

* * *

Faith

“Oh my god! It's really him!” Sarah speaks directly into my ear to be heard over the loud thump of the music.

My brow furrows as I turn to her. “Who?”

She nods toward the doorway where several people are already looking. “The devil himself.”

I laugh at her silliness, but she's not laughing. Her eyes are serious, and her gaze is honed in on the figure standing in the doorway.

“The devil, you say?” I joke, but she doesn't even crack a smile. Instead, without ever taking her eyes off the man walking into the room, she says dreamily, “Oh my god, isn't he the most handsome guy you've ever seen in your entire life? I wonder if he’s really as terrifying as they say?”

I finally turn my entire body to get a good look at this man that everyone seems to be gaping at. My breath catches when my eyes his through the crowd. They’re an icy blue that pierces me like shards of glass. Their blueness seems starker against his jet-black hair that's waving stylishly back from his face. An errant lock falls on his forehead in that careless way that men's hair does, and he lifts a hand and runs his fingers through the locks. They ripple with hints of blue under the flashing lights.

His jaw is strong with a light dusting of stubble lining it. It only seems to give him a darker allure rather than a haphazard appearance. He still looks completely put together in his suit that no doubt cost more than a month's worth of rent for me.

Sarah's not lying. He probably is the most gorgeous man I've ever seen in my life, but just who is he, and why do they call him the devil?

And why in the hell is he staring directly atme?

I feel my cheeks flush, and the crowd parts to make way for him. I could be wrong, but it looks like he's walking straight toward me, his gaze pinned intently onme. I look to the left and right and even behind me to see if there's someone else he could be zeroed in on.

When I turn back around, he's even closer to me, and it becomes apparently clear that Iamhis target.

“Oh my god!” Sarah squeals into my ear as she grips my arm the closer he gets to me. “Do you know him?”

I shake my head at her. “No. Who is he? Why do they call him the devil?”

Before she gets a chance to answer, he's standing right in front of us. Sarah lets out a little squeak and steps behind me—the traitorous bitch—leaving me completely at his mercy.

For a moment, we seem to be suspended in time with him staring down at me intensely, his eyes blazing at me like twin flames.

My breath is so shallow I hear it coming out in wispy little pants in my ears. I probably look like I'm hyperventilating or something.

“Hazel,” he murmurs.

My brow furrows in confusion. Does he have me confused with someone else? Is that what this is about? “What?”

He doesn't answer me. Instead, his eyes sweep over me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes before they come back up to capture my eyes again. “What's your name?” his voice comes out gruff and commanding.


Tags: Emma Bray Romance