Page 8 of Souls and Sorrows

“Leaving so soon?” the presence says, voice low and gravelly.

I lift a shoulder. “Midnight calls.”

The stranger hums, and the sound is tempting. I almost turn my head to look, but I know Vitus’s men are watching. Judging silently.

“I’ve always admired these dancers,” he says after a moment. “Performances of any kind take grit and confidence, but the ability to get up there and entertain perverts is a skill not many possess.”

My mouth dries up like I’ve swallowed cotton. “Are you not entertained?”

“By her?” A pause, then, “I tend to prefer more classic branches of the sport. Tap, ballroom…ballet.”

Ice freezes the blood rushing through my veins, and my head snaps to the side, taking the man in for the first time. Up close, that is. I’m met by a warm brown gaze and a stoic, poised face that could have been chiseled directly from a slab of marble with its razor-sharp angles.

His nose slants in a straight line, stopping to billow out above plush lips, the top of which has a tiny scar slashing through the corner. It’s faint, barely visible over his peachy skin tone, but my eyes find it anyway, as if needing the flaw to offset his statuesque beauty.

The stranger from across the room.

Furrowing my brows, I cut a quick glance to the corner booth he was in minutes ago, wondering how fast he must have walked to make it here. Granted, he has a good six inches on me, and I have no clue how long I was standing here, admiring the dancer.

“I’ve been trying to figure out why you look so familiar,” he notes once I’ve finally blinked and returned to reality.

There might be a spot of drool on my bottom lip, but I don’t dare move my eyes from his.

“The blonde is pretty convincing—I’ll give you that.”

“How generous,” I spit, ignoring the way his attention seems to tie me in knots. Once the shock of him wears off, I stiffen, realizing he’s made me. “So, what? Did you come over here in the hopes of taking a picture or maybe copping a feel? Something you could sell to the paps outside, waiting for a juicy story?”

“No, nothing like that.” His head cocks to one side. “They’re really that interested in you?”

“They’re interested in making money. Not me.”

He hums again, but I can’t tell if it’s in agreement or not. I watch his eyes drop, reaching my feet and then slowly gliding back up, and I resist the shiver that threatens the outer layer of my skin.

“I find that difficult to believe.”

“Well, I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but my days of gracing the front pages of online tabloids are over.”

“I see. Is that because you’ve settled down?” His gaze dips to the sash around my chest. I forgot I had it on.

“Yep. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Maybe I’minterested.”

I cock a brow, and the scarred corner of his mouth tugs up.

My throat constricts at the matter-of-fact tone. The way his eyes don’t leave mine, confident and electric.

It shouldn’t flatter me, having this god’s attention. In fact, I should be running in the opposite direction. If Vitus finds out I so much as looked at another man, there will be hell to pay, and I don’t feel like dealing with him.

Letting out a little hollow laugh, I roll my eyes and turn back toward the front. “Well, I don’t cheat. If you’re looking for a lap dance, might I suggest the girlcurrentlyonstage?”

“Like I said” —his eyes flicker to my lips, then back up— “not the kind of dancing I want to see.”

For a moment, we just stare at each other. He goes so long without blinking that I have to discreetly pinch my side, just to make sure I’m still alive.

“But that’s right,” he says after a beat. He draws closer, maneuvering so his right forearm props up against the wall at my back. His free hand rises, long fingers reaching to wrap around a tendril of the synthetic blonde hair draped over my breasts.

They heave at his proximity, the breath leaving my chest like floodwaters rushing from a broken dam. I don’t even understand what’s happening, or why my body is reacting so viscerally to a man I don’t know and who I’m pretty sure is trying to goad me into something.

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