Page 35 of Fix You

When the crowd began clapping in time, I joined them. Although Dare was a good dancer, I couldn’t keep my eyes off Maeve. Elation lit up her beautiful face. It was a complete change from how she’d appeared earlier in the evening. My ego inwardly boasted that somehow I’d had a part in putting that look on her face.

When she and Dare finished their jig, the rooftop erupted in cheers, whistles, and clapping. Everyone came out of their chairs to applaud. Crimson flushed Maeve’s face, and she ducked her head. But a radiant smile remained curved on her cheeks. I triedto ignore the way her chest rose and fell in harsh pants as she tried catching her breath.

After she kissed Dare’s cheek, she came off the floor towards me. The closer she got the more wicked her smile became. I liked watching the change come over her. It was like after all the years of being sheltered and coddled, she was coming into her own as a woman. But she was discovering it as she went along. It was pure innocence but with an edge.

With a gleam in her green eyes, she crooked her finger at me. “All right, Mr. Neretti. Time to pay up.”

I laughed. “Now you’re being cheeky as you Irish call it.”

“Perhaps I am.” Tilting her head at me, she countered, “It sounds like you’re stalling.”

“Oh yes, you’re very, very cheeky.” At the mention of her cheekiness, I desperately wanted to reach out and cup hers, and surprisingly it wasn’t the cheeks I would’ve usually gone for. No, I wanted to caress Maeve’s beautiful face. To run my thumbs across her soft jawline. To feel her lean her head into my hand.

Jesus, what kind of fucking spell had she cast over me to have me feeling and thinking such bullshite.

“Should I be worried about which dark corner you’re going to take me into to collect?” I asked.

“The darker the better, don’t you think?”

“Maeve Kavanaugh, you little minx,” I teased.

To my surprise, my words caused pink to tinge her cheeks. “I don’t know what’s come over me tonight,” she replied, as she fanned her face.

“Too much champagne?” I suggested.

“No. It’s not the alcohol. It’s all me.”

“Well, whatever it is, I like it.”

Her eyes lit up. “I kinda like it, too. I mean, I like me.” She pinched her eyes shut and winced. “I mean, I like what’s come over me.”

I liked it, too. A hell of a lot. “As for your previous question, yes, the darker the better.” After closing the gap between us, I lowered my voice. “Although I do have to say I’d like to be able to see the look on your face when my lips meet yours.”

She blinked up at me. “You would?”

I nodded. “Do you close your eyes?”

With her bravado waning, she stammered, “Uh, well, I-I don’t know.”

“I’d like to find out.”

Inwardly, I groaned at the words coming out of my mouth.What the hell are you doing? You just signed a wedding contract. Maeve is obviously an innocent virgin playing at being a seductress, not to mention she has five brothers who would riddle you with bullets if they knew what you were saying to her.

To my utter surprise, she replied, “What about you? Do you close your eyes? Or do you like to watch?”

The allusion to voyeurism shot heat straight to my cock. Watching others was the only sin I’d partaken in at Inferno. “I like to watch. Very much.”

When she got my meaning, the flush in her cheeks ran down her neck. “Did you bite off more than you could chew with that question,dolcezza?”

Her brows furrowed. “What did you call me?”

“Sweetheart.”

“That’smilseánin Irish,” she replied absently.

“I think you’re avoiding the question.”

“In a way, everything about our interaction is too much.” When her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, I inwardly groaned. “But I want to try.”

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